I endorse the comments made by my colleagues on this serious piece of legislation, the title of which is somewhat of a misnomer. It is not a relief, it is quite a hefty additional burden on a certain section of the community. I understand that in the case of Cork an extra 2,000 farmers will be asked to contribute in the region of £1 million extra. That is an unfairly distributed burden. I am sure the Minister appreciates that valuation at present is irrelevant. At one time it was a genuine assessment of the capabilities of land, but valuation as we know it at present is no indicator of the value of land. Very often small holdings, for historical reasons, are highly valued and it is possible that a farm of 70 acres carries a valuation of £140. One can appreciate the burden such a farmer would have in trying to survive after this Bill is passed.
Almost everybody else has been given relief of rates, even those in the wealth tax bracket. People with houses costing up to £250,000 do not have to pay rates but a small section of the farming community are expected to make up the deficit. In this case the Government are giving away something indiscriminately while asking a small section of the community to pay for it. Of course the matter does not end there. We know that the Government have limited the increase this year to 11 per cent, but we do not have any statutory guarantees that next year the contribution will not be increased to 30 per cent and the Government's contribution reduced to 16 per cent. I should like to tell the House that a farmer now paying £433 will be asked to pay £763 while a farmer with a valuation of £90 who is now being asked to pay £543 will be faced with a bill for £918. On a valuation of £100 a farmer pays £612 now but he will be asked to pay £1,021. That is at the current rate of increase. The Government are demanding hefty sums of money from the farmers regardless of profits.
As the Minister is aware those involved in farming are at the mercy of the weather, and the health of a farmer can be an important factor in determining whether he will make a profit. This type of penal legislation should be considered carefully before it is passed. The Minister should have another look at the Bill because I believe he has gone too far. Our farmers, in common with farmers in other European countries, pay their taxes, but now they are being asked to pay almost 81 per cent extra on their rates, regardless of profits. That is unfair. Such an increase will have to be passed on to the consumer. There is no way of stopping this increase at the farm gate. The increase must find its way into the shops, thereby making our basic foods more expensive.