I want to ask comrade Taoiseach now that he has come out as a socialist how this will affect the ordinary lives of our citizens? Nothing has stretched credulity so much since the press conferences in Baghdad of "comical Ali". Will the Taoiseach say what this will mean in practice for ordinary people? How will it change the lives of ordinary people now that a true socialist leads the Government?

He always was.

Will it mean that the millionaires who pay no tax——

Allow Deputy Rabbitte to speak without interruption, please.

——will have to pay a fair tax? Does it mean that he will undo the cuts of €58 million from the most vulnerable people on the margins of society in the social welfare package? Does it mean he will restore the RAPID programme that was designed to transfer resources to the most disadvantaged areas of the country? Does it mean that a woman fleeing domestic violence will now qualify for the rent supplement? People will want to know if his calculated, cynical announcement at the weekend will mean a change of direction in the Government policies he has pursued for seven and a half years?

Does it mean that people who cannot afford a mortgage will now have a chance of getting a local authority house? Up to now these people had to make do with a total of 315 houses built under the new social provisions of the planning legislation. Will the Taoiseach indicate to the House if people on very low incomes, for example, will qualify for medical cards as a result of this change of Government direction?

Does the Taoiseach have many soul brothers and sisters in the Cabinet to assist him in this change of direction?

The Taoiseach would look well beside a picture of Che Guevara.

The core of centre left political ideology is the desire to spread more wealth equally.

He is more serious than Che Guevara.

Allow the Taoiseach to speak without interruption, please.

Since we returned to office in 1997, Fianna Fáil's record——

The Taoiseach is reading too much.

——is that of the most left-wing Government the country has ever seen.

The Taoiseach should be allowed to speak. He is entitled to exactly the same courtesy as Deputy Rabbitte received. If the Deputy does not wish to listen the Chair will deal with him.

It is all right, a Cheann Comhairle. The Ceann Comhairle should not get upset. I am quite enjoying the fact that the Labour Party has not been so upset for 20 years. There is no arguing with my party's clear achievements in ensuring that economic prosperity is more equitably spread throughout our communities. This Government has done much more than any other on pensions and social welfare, tackling unemployment and disadvantage, investing in health and education and committing resources to marginalised communities and the disability sector. The Government has done more than any comprised of the Labour Party or Democratic Left for that matter. Deputy Rabbitte referred to a number of these issues earlier.

The Government has made no cutbacks in social welfare this year, rather it spent more than €100 million extra. Deputy Rabbitte criticised the Government's record on tackling unemployment even though The Economist reports this week that Ireland comes out best of more than 100 countries in respect of unemployment and taxation. Most centre left, left or “commie” parties in Europe would be very pleased to have our economic statistics and when they meet Deputy Rabbitte to talk about the socialist republic, they ask him how we do it.

Deputy Rabbitte criticised the Government for doing nothing for people with disabilities, yet it is spending €2.5 billion. When Deputy Rabbitte's party last held the Finance portfolio, its gave just €500,000 in the budget.

Shame.

Deputy Rabbitte criticised the Government's record of creating a fair and equitable tax system, yet the most recent data from the OECD shows that in 2003 Ireland had the lowest tax wedge in the European Union and one of the lowest in the OECD for a single person on the average production wage.

Where did the Taoiseach read that?

Deputy Rabbitte stated that the tax system ignores the low paid, yet of the 1.8 million people in the work force, more than 620,000 are exempt from income tax. Where a number of years ago, one quarter of workers were exempt from income tax, the figure is now one third.

In the past seven years, the Government has reduced the standard and higher rates of income tax by six percentage points. When the Labour Party had the opportunity it reduced rates by just 1%. The Government has introduced a fairer system of credits, increased their value substantially and widened the standard band. We have doubled the tax exemption limits to €15,500 for single people and to €31,000 for married people. The average industrial worker, in whom Deputy Rabbitte purports to be interested, earns €10,000 more than in 1997, but pays approximately €250 less in tax. The Government has also introduced one of the lowest rates for people on the minimum wage. Some 30% of the population holds a medical card and the Government is seeking to expand that figure.

The Taoiseach should not talk about medical cards.

The Government's record is a disgrace.

Whether it is targeted support packages for disadvantaged children, assistance for disadvantaged areas or resources invested under the RAPID scheme in Ballymun and other areas in which it was needed, the Government has invested huge resources. Those are the facts, which Deputy Rabbitte cannot deny.

If Mr. McCreevy was listening in the Berlemont building to the revelation that all this time he was the Minister for Finance of a socialist Government, he would be twirling on a spit. How can the Taoiseach rhyme off such statistics when the Government sucked the average industrial earner, to whom he referred, into paying tax at the top or marginal rate for the first time in the history of the State? For the first time, people earning €258 and with three children cannot get a medical card. The Government has taken 101,000 medical cards out of the system in contradiction of a programme for Government pledge to enhance it by 200,000, not counting the impact of the people over 70 years to whom the Government extended the scheme.

There are 315 social and affordable houses. The Government has structured the tax system in such a way that shelters and tax incentives are available to people even where there is no economic merit to the continuation of a particular scheme. Very high rollers in our society can organise their tax affairs in such a fashion that they quite legitimately have no tax liability. According to the most recent figures, 11 millionaires have no tax liability at all while, at the same time, the average industrial earner or someone on 90% of the national minimum wage is liable to pay tax. The Government cut €58 million from the most vulnerable in our society and pulled the plug on the election promise of fast tracking €2 billion to urban areas in which poverty is clustered as soon as the election was over. How can the Taoiseach reconcile that with his calculatedly cynical attempt to re-brand and re-position the most right wing Government this State has seen since its foundation?

The social welfare budget was increased by €640 million, which is an enormous increase. Approximately 13,000 people will be catered for by the social and affordable housing scheme, which is higher than any figure since 1986. These are facts.

That is rubbish.

That is not the truth.

This is Deputy Rabbitte's question. If Deputies Gilmore and Seán Ryan are not happy with that, they will have to sort it out.

The income tax burden for the average household has fallen from 30% in 1996 to 18% today. Deputy Rabbitte referred to the average industrial wage which is up €10,000, even with all the increases, a person on the average wage today will pay €300 less than they would have been.

What about stealth taxes?

The reason more people do not require medical cards is that they are working.

Are people not getting sick?

The Opposition was satisfied for such people to be on the dole.

The Taoiseach should tell the truth.

It is because they are working. We no longer have 17% unemployment. We are not all unemployed as when the Labour Party was in control of these issues and pursued tax and spend policies. The great social philosophy of the Labour Party left people unemployed or emigrating and with high taxes. The country was goosed but we are away from those policies now. Deputy Seán Ryan knows in his heart that the real workers' party in this country is Fianna Fáil. Why does he not admit it?

Is that what the electorate told the Taoiseach in the June election?

They were in the tent at the Galway Races.

We have the highest minimum wage. I had to fight and wait for several years to see the Labour Party out of Government in order to see a minimum wage, which is now the highest in Europe. All these figures show that while everything is not done, the old circumstances of high unemployment, low wages and high taxes are not with us anymore, for which I thank God.