Last weekend my party was accused by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, in his favourite Sunday comic, of having what he described as "crazy tax policies".

Does Sinn Féin have tax policies?

They are not demilitarised yet.

Of course, the Deputy writes for the same comic or has done. Perhaps they have demoted him since he has taken on other responsibilities. A few days later we had a revelation of just some of the billions which this Government has given away to the very wealthy in this country through massive tax breaks. Earlier this year, when I put the same question to the former Minister for Finance, Mr. McCreevy, he was unable to give me an answer. He could not tell us the cost of any of the battery of tax reliefs for developers and speculators. We still do not know the cost of many of these scams. Given those facts, I have no doubt that many people will have no difficulty in determining where the "crazy" tag properly belongs.

Does the Taoiseach agree that, to take just one example, it is crazy for this State to reward multi-millionaire developers and speculators for building private medical facilities, while at the same time our public hospital system is in crisis? Is it not crazy that millions of euro in public moneys are being wasted in tax breaks to subsidise private health business for private profit, while patients in public hospitals lie on trolleys for days at a time and there are not enough nurses and the masters of Dublin's maternity hospitals are indicating they cannot cope and will probably have to limit the numbers admitted in future?

In the forthcoming budget, will the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance reverse this crazy dichotomy between the Taoiseach's penchant to reward the wealthiest in society and penalise the least well off? In the course of preparing the budget, will the Taoiseach ensure that public money is spent instead on addressing the crisis in our A & E units, in employing more nurses and extending the medical card qualification——

The Deputy's time has concluded.

——to so many in our society who desperately need it?

This year, approximately €500 million is being spent on the health capitalprogramme to improve facilities. While, admittedly, there are some difficulties in A&E — I have acknowledged that on several occasions — I do not think we should take from the enormous progress that has been made in so many other areas of health care, whether they concern cardiac, cancer, lung or other respiratory treatment services that have been opened in this calendar year, not to mention other years. Let us notforget the 1.25 million people who are seen inA&E departments annually, in addition to the many inpatients who are well served by our hospital service.

The Government continually keeps tax shelters and allowances under review but it is incorrect to state that the figures released yesterday all relate to the rich. That is always the easy angle to take on these issues. Yesterday, a reply to a parliamentary question stated that major items among the reliefs were costing €8 billion plus. It is easy to say that is €8 billion for the wealthy but one should examine the exemptions from which the total accrues. They include the following exemptions from income tax: child benefit; capital allowances, the bulk of which are normal business capital allowances in lieu of depreciation; employer-employee pension costs relief, which are widely availed of; exemption from capital gains on the sale and purchase of one's principal private residence; special savings incentive accounts, which are availed of by over 1 million taxpayers; mortgage interest relief; and medical card, insurance and health expenses relief. Does the Deputy want me to do away with those exemptions in the budget? If Deputy Ó Caoláin wants to be Minister for Finance he would be better protected than I am so he could announce those changes. However, I will certainly not announce them or stand over them.

There are some exemptions that I would not defend because they were brought in for a limited period and while they help for a while, the situation then moves on. Incentives and reliefs are introduced by various Governments to try to stimulate investment in particular areas and it is good to leave them there for a while and then do away with them. The previous Minister for Finance announced the winding down of a number of these reliefs.

I noticed that media reports referred to 29 examples on the list released by the Minister yesterday, which have now been curtailed. The limiting of reliefs to promote tax equity has not been mentioned. I will not go through the 29 examples but it is only fair when one is putting one side of the story to put the other side also, when one is given the information. We will continue to keep all these reliefs and incentives under regular review, to ensure they are fulfilling their intended purpose.

The most recent projections available to the Revenue Commissioners in respect of the current tax year indicate that the top 1.5% of earners will contribute 26% of all attributable income tax.

The Taoiseach's time has concluded.

I have no difficulty with people talking about the rich but they do pay 26% of the tax bill, so we should at least note that.

The Taoiseach's response does not even amount to a fig-leaf. We have all seen the report in the newspapers this morning of the component parts and, of course, the Taoiseach would select those he knows very well are not the areas I am addressing. The Taoiseach's reply will fool nobody. He is well aware that I am talking about, for instance, the 242 people who earned between €100,000 and €1 million in 2001 and who paid no income tax at all. In addition to the 29 listed scams to which the Taoiseach referred — some are worthy supports — there are 33 others for which no information could be secured. Neither the Minister for Finance nor the Revenue Commissioners can tell us exactly what they are costing the Exchequer.

It is obscene that families must struggle to face the €40 cost of visiting a doctor for one of their children, while others — the most wealthy, which is the area I am addressing — continue to feather their nests at the expense of each and every taxpayer. That is an obscenity and it is, in the words of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, "absolutely crazy".

The Deputy should conclude.

The Taoiseach has the opportunity to try to address and redress the imbalance in our society. I invite him by his own costings to ensure that in the upcoming budget the medical card qualification is extended to all children under the age of 18 as it would only cost a mere €118 million, which is a pittance in the overall scale of things.

The Deputy's time has concluded.

However, the difference it would make to the quality of life for children and their struggling parents would be enormous. Will the Taoiseach indicate his intention to introduce such a measure?

The Deputy has asked three questions. He has now stated that he is talking just of those areas that are targeted at the wealthy, which is fair enough. Some of the reliefs may be too generous and too broad. We have already announced we are closing in on many of those tax shelters and allowances for individuals because it is not right that people should get away with all of their tax. I have no difficulty with that. We have already announced a tightening up of the procedure on capital allowances and in other areas. Much of what was included in the figure goes to middle-class middle-income earners. On the issue of the exemption of child benefit for income tax purposes, it is there for everybody and the tax allowances are there for everybody. We have never moved away from that. Those are benefits for everybody in society. People do not want these to be targeted and want them as they are. It will not change and that creates a difficulty.

I agree with what the Deputy says about the scams. I am all for stopping scams North and South. If we could address the scams we would have more revenue for the less well off in some of the categories mentioned. Eliminating scams in cigarettes, petrol and alcohol would all help the national Exchequer. I agree we should try to address scams and tax abuse by wealthy people through avoidance. We continue to try to deal with those.

Will the Deputy also condemn them?

Will the Taoiseach answer the question about the medical cards?