Live: Leaders' Questions
Minute by minute coverage of Dáil Éireann

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This event has now ended
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12:03
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12:07
First up is Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin who says a parent in Tallaght last week told him that education was placing a significant burden on the household budget. She said that not paying the "voluntary" subscription to the school would mean her children would miss out on books and other materials.
He says that most schools have to raise additional funds and that small schools and disadvantaged schools find this very difficult.
"Well over a third of parents in Ireland say they're getting into debt to cover back to school costs," he says.
"One of the most effective ways to deal with this is to accept that the existing capitation grant is wholly inadequate to fund our primary schools," he says and asks the Taoiseach whether he accepts that.
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12:09
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says he agrees that back to school costs can be a burden on families but he says that increasing the capitation grant is a budgetary matter and no Budget 2019 decision have been taken yet.
Varadkar says the Government has already made a "massive investment" in education which is having a positive impact. He says he accepts that the capitation grant has not been increased and that is something which will have to be looked at in Budget 2019.
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12:12
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12:16
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald says the Government has failed to engage with the issue of pay for Irish nurses.
"We should expect that their jobs pay well, we should expect high morale in their ranks but that's not the case, Taoiseach," she says.
She says the Government does not want to talk about the issue of pay.
"Will you commit. Taoiseach, to acting and engaging with unions so that our nurses and other health professionals get a fair deal?"
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12:19
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12:21
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12:22
"I can absolutely guarantee that the Government with engage with unions on pay," says Varadkar."It's because of that engagement that we have a three-year pay deal with public servants." He adds that "there is only so much money".
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12:26
Labour leader Brendan Howlin says after the economic collapse Ireland was unable to pay for basic public services. "It is not clear that your Government has learned the lessons of history," he says, saying we now see tax lobbyists seeking cuts to income taxes.
"Your government has now embarked on the same process of driving down income taxes... only the top 19 per cent of tax payers pay tax, any tax, at the higher rate."
Despite the fact that almost all NW European countries pay higher income tax than Ireland, you're talking about reducing it. Will the Government confirm its intention to strengthen the tax base of the country? he asks.
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12:29
Varadkar says we do have a much broader tax base now and if there is a vulnerability it is not around income tax but around corporation tax, which might not be there in two years time.
This government needs to be responsible, says Varadkar, and contain price of houses, contain increase in demands for higher pay, lower tax. He says the plan is to raise more from income tax in 2019 than 2018.
He says people who earn €40,000 and €50,000 are the middle and not higher earners.
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12:31
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12:36
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12:37
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12:38
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12:40
Varadkar chuckles and says "The deputy is a very excitable man, isn't he?"
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12:41