Richard Bruton planned to woo returning emigrants with flat tax of 30%

Richard Bruton, the minister for jobs, planned to woo returning emigrants and plug holes in the workforce by introducing a flat 30% rate of tax for skilled workers.

The Government parties, particularly Fine Gael, have repeatedly made attracting up to 70,000 Irish workers home from abroad a key tenet of their economic plan.

It had been expected that last October’s budget would include a package of measures including tax breaks aimed at making a return home more attractive to overseas workers, but these were not included in the final raft of policies.