Interesting article in the Sunday Independent by Louise McBride about billionaires paying only an average of €1.25 million in tax in 2011. The top 450 wealthy of Ireland have money and assets of €22.5 billion between them. The Social Welfare bill for 2011/2012 is expected to come to €21 billion. Which means these 450 persons have enough wealth to pay the entire Child Benefit bill of this country, the entire State Pension of this country, the entire Illness Benefit of this country, the entire Carers Allowance of this country, the entire Unemployment Benefit of 450,000 people of this country, the entire Disability Allowances and Invalidity Pensions of this country. And many other benefit's and allowances paid by the Department of Social Protection. In fact those 450 people have the capacity through their wealth to provide the entire income of 2.5 million people in Ireland for one year. Such a gross obscenity this is. 450 obscenities walking around on two legs. What makes it more obscene is that there are young homeless children lying on the streets of Dublin and other cities and towns of this country. There are elderly people frightened to turn on heating in their homes for fear of running out of electricity. There are hundreds of elderly patients lying on hospital trolleys because of lack of funding from billionaires. There are children fainting in classrooms because their parents can't afford breakfast for them out of Social Welfare payments.
I am not a religious person but I do recall a very important lesson in school about the rich man finding it harder to get into heaven than a Camel would find it walking through the eye of a needle. I wonder does Father Brian D'Arcy recall teaching that parable to young children in church or RE classes? I have great respect for Father D'Arcy but does he agree that being a billionaire in today's economic climate is an obscenity? If he does he must get up on his pulpit next Sunday, or on his Sunday World column and tell all billionaires that they must give up at least €3/4 of a billion and follow Christ. And Cardinal Brady should be doing the same. They either believe in the Bible and should preach and practise it or go follow and be a billionaire themselves.
