According to some Greek protesters Ireland is not like Greece - one banner on a demonstration read, “This is not Ireland, we will fight”. Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan, says the same but from a different stand point. He keeps repeating that Ireland is not like Greece in the hope that such an economic collapse won't happen here, precisely because he is afraid of a similar revolt of the Irish working class.
THE GOVERNMENT have come up with yet another outrageous claim; this time we are expected to believe that the rich pay their fair share of taxes!
Brian Lenihan is trying to paint the image of a “highly progressive” Irish taxation system in which those who earn most pay most. To back up his claim he said that the top 1% of earners (who earn more than €200,000) pay 20% of all income tax. But this figure is misleading and Lenihan’s description of the taxation system is miles removed from reality.
The Youth Guarantee was the crowning achievement of the Irish Presidency of the EU in 2013. The Labour Party have hailed it from the rooftops, Emer Costello MEP, has even gone to the bother of holding meetings around the city to promote it. But what does it really guarantee?