A call has been made for the removal of tax exemptions for artists from U2 and other "music industry millionaires".
Mr Joe Higgins (Socialist, Dublin West) said: "While I fully endorse the support of struggling artists, poets and writers, it is not taxation justice to treat multimillionaire Bono and his fellow music industry millionaires in the same way as one might treat poor Paddy Kavanagh shuffling along Raglan Road composing his poetry."
Speaking during the Budget debate, Mr Higgins said there had not been much comment on "whether the Minister for Finance disturbed the glamorous world of the super-wealthy rock stars, celebrities and impresarios".
Millions that could be got from this protected sector of millionaires would easily finance the €4.2 million needed immediately to open the new wing of Blanchardstown hospital.
The Dublin West deputy had earlier hit out at the "continuing scandal" of "millionaires and billionaires who are no doubt jetting off to their luxury hideaways in Bermuda, Monaco and other places this weekend".
They were "well pleased that their lobbying has again saved them from being obliged to pay their proper share of taxation. They are allowed to continue to legally avoid payment into the social fund for services, to the tune of tens of millions of euro".
He compared their treatment to the low-paid such as a "working-class woman in west Dublin or anywhere else who drags herself from her bed in the dark on a winter morning to clean offices and other buildings to put bread on the table for her family (and) is reckoned for every penny in taxation".
The Green Party leader, Mr Trevor Sargent, criticised "the lack of regard for the National Spatial Strategy as demonstrated by the relocation of offices through decentralisation".
Only 25 per cent of the State decentralisation jobs were going to gateways and hubs, and this would create a headache for planners who were unable to say for definite whether the strategy would be followed.
He said it represented a major headache for public transport companies trying to work according to the strategy's proposal. It would also be a major headache for the education sector, which was not exactly sure of the location of the colleges that would be part of the strategy.
He asked: "What makes Cavan the ideal location for the Department of the Marine? Is coastal erosion such a threat that Cavan is the cautious option for a coastal Department?"
He said all the indications to date suggested the Budget was to give Government candidates a few Smarties to rattle in the next local election campaign.
