Noonan wants ‘economically smart and socially just’ budget

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan has said his "mantra" for budgets is that they should be "economically smart and socially just".

He said personal taxes were too high when he made his concluding remarks to the National Economic Dialogue at Dublin Castle.

Turning to the corporation tax rate, Mr Noonan said it was an “absolute red line” that the rate did not go beyond 12.5 per cent.

Mr Noonan said the Government wanted to start “narrowing the gap” between the way in which self-employed and PAYE workers were taxed.

Addressing that would take a few years, he added.

Beginning his remarks on a light note with a reference to Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin, Mr Noonan said: "I've no money at all. I just collect it and give it to Brendan to spend."

Mr Howlin replied: “He doesn’t give me enough”.

Mr Howlin acknowledged people had endured “significant resource pressure” and he had to consider how that could be unwound in a sustainable way that did not put the recovery at risk.

“I’m aware of seven years of pent-up demand, suppressed need.”

On broadband, he said: “Bluntly I don’t want to put public money in a place where private money is already.”

Mr Howlin said every month there was an announcement that private companies were investing more.

He thanked Mr Noonan for the "personal collaboration" without which he did not think they would have got through the budgets implemented by the Fine Gael/Labour administration.