I call Deputy Catherine Murphy, who is sharing time with Deputies Finian McGrath and Halligan.
Local Government (Household Charge) (Repeal) Bill 2012: Second Stage (Resumed) [Private Members]
Question again proposed: "That the Bill be read a Second Time."
We Independents are often told that the country could not function without political parties because they draft manifestos and position papers before elections, yet they are frequently criticised for breaking their promises. Those of us who publicly stated that we would commit an act of civil disobedience by not paying the household charge have been criticised by those on the Government side.
Regarding a property tax, Fine Gael's "Less Waste Lower Taxes Stronger Growth" document and its election manifesto state:
Fianna Fail's proposal, now endorsed by the Labour Party, to introduce by 2014 an annual, recurring residential property tax on the family home is unfair for three reasons:
• The initial flat rate charge means that owners of houses in standard neighbourhoods will pay as much as the owners of mansions.
• It will be difficult to pay for asset-rich but income poor households, particularly the elderly and the unemployed; and
• It will be deeply unfair for a young generation that paid exorbitant amounts of stamp duty and VAT on the purchases on over-valued houses, many of whom now find themselves in negative equity.
One could add to the last category people in pyrite homes and those who do not own property, namely, people who are in so much negative equity that all they own are debts.
The household charge was not introduced to collect €100, but to create a database of people's names, addresses and PPS numbers so as to allow for the collection of a property tax next year. I stated as much when the House debated the legislation.
One of my main problems with this tax is that we do not have a local government system. Rather, we have a system of local administration. In Denmark, extensive services are delivered at local level and democratically controlled. Had we such a system and if the amount of money levied could be controlled, an argument could be made for funding services locally. However, we are far from that system.
This forms part of my reason for refusing to pay the household charge and for standing in solidarity with others who are doing likewise, as I stated during the debate on the legislation. This will remain a valid response until a justifiable system is in place. The charge as imposed is not justified and the Minister was correct when he told the House that it was unfair.
I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to contribute on this Bill, which is a clear attempt to do something positive about an unjust tax on homes. I welcome and support the legislation and commend Sinn Féin on introducing it.
The Bill is clear and comprises three sections. There can be no dithering on the main issue - one is either for or against a home tax. It is not a tax on wealth or property. This is the crucial issue. It is time the Government admitted its mistake. It is not good enough that senior Ministers, for example, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, are running around Brazil while people are being penalised at home for the actions of others.
Let me challenge the Taoiseach on some of his comments yesterday to Deputy Boyd Barrett, whom he lectured on breaking the law. Let us examine the State's history. Since its foundation, 40 Oireachtas Members have been arrested and imprisoned for breaking the law on issues about which they felt strongly. My good friend and colleague, Deputy Durkan, was jailed in the 1980s for protesting in support of farmers. The late Tony Gregory went to Mountjoy Prison because of his protest on behalf of this city's street traders. There is a proud tradition of defending the Molly Malones. Given these examples, we will take lectures from no one about legislators breaking the law.
I have already paid my tax - I paid stamp duty when I moved house. Many families have already paid central government thousands of euro in taxes. The Government wants people to pay tax for local government services three times. The public pays for these services through taxation everyday. Households pay for the fire brigade service, septic tank charges and management fees. Water charges will be added to that list soon. This is the real world, yet the Government wants the same households to pay an additional household charge.
I welcomed Deputy Stanley's comments last night. Not only did he complain about the charge and introduce the legislation, but he also suggested progressive ideas on funding central government through taxation. I strongly support the suggestion to introduce a third rate of tax of 48% on individuals' earnings above €100,000, which would accrue €410 million to the State. Group relief is availed of by companies that transfer losses to profitable companies to write down tax receipts. Its abolition would accrue in the region of €450.3 million. Abolishing legacy property reliefs would raise €341.8 million. A 1% wealth tax, which we in this country seem to be against, would accrue approximately €900 million. These are solutions to the question of funding local government services. The Opposition is not just introducing legislation to withdraw the household charge. We are suggesting solutions to the problem. For this reason, many members of the public listen to what is being stated.
I supported the second home levy, as it was a direct tax on people with extra houses.
Consider examples of good practice in other European countries. In Denmark, councils receive a portion of the corporation taxes raised in their respective areas. In Norway, there is a local wealth tax on natural resources. We are not examining such ideas because we are too conservative and afraid and our Government is asleep. In Spain, there is a local tax on development land. When the land's value increases, a percentage of its value goes to the local authority. These are sensible solutions.
It is important that we realise the difficulty the household charge causes many families. They are feeling the squeeze, paying many taxes and are suffering. Many people are losing their jobs and small business are going down the tubes due to the pressure. It is for the Government to assist these families and to kick-start the economy, yet the household charge's introduction has damaged the fight back. During the referendum campaign, we discussed growth and developing the economy, but taking €100 and more out of people's pockets is killing the economy, as they would otherwise have spent that money in their local small businesses and shops.
I support this commonsensical legislation. It is important that the Taoiseach, the Minister and the House listen to constructive proposals on local government funding. Such proposals have been made during this debate. Of course we must fund local government. I sat on Dublin City Council for five years and understand the reality of the situation. We also have a priority to put forward sensible taxation proposals. This legislation is part of the fight-back and part of trying to kick-start the economy. I strongly support this Bill.
I wish to share time with Deputies Nash, Coffey, John Paul Phelan, Lawlor, McCarthy, Nolan and Ciarán Lynch.
Is that agreed? Agreed.
I was taken aback by what Deputy Finian McGrath just said. He earns a good salary as a Deputy and was a former school principal. I cannot believe he can stand up in the Chamber and advocate for people to break the law.
I was giving an historical explanation.
It is just not acceptable that he could say that in this Chamber.
Talk to your colleagues.
Through the Chair, please Deputy.
She started it, a Cheann Comhairle.
I want to thank the people of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. In published media reports, it is top of the class in compliance with paying the household charge despite one of its Deputies advocating non-payment. To be specific, 76.3% of households in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown paid which can be positively compared to the national average of 56%. Why should my neighbour pay for the local services, facilities and grant money while others do not pay their fair share? Without a doubt, the people of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown have shown a keen sense of civic spirit and decent responsibility.
My constituents also have to go out to work, pay mortgages, stamp duty, higher child care costs and higher parking and transport costs. Mortgages in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown are very high with modest three-bedroom and four-bedroom semi-detached houses selling in the Celtic tiger era for between €500,000 and €700,000. Many of these home owners are under significant financial burdens but still paid their household charge. To be fair, many of them also have to pay for their children's education due to the shortage of places in State schools in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown.
In the interests of my constituents, I am demanding that those who pay the most receive the most. There are several councils where less than 50% of registered houses have paid the charge. My constituents should not suffer for those other councils' lack of legal compliance. The implementation of a household charge is not a radical, extremist or new age move by the Government. Such a charge, or a variant of one, is in operation in many countries such as France, Germany, Greece and Italy. It might be a surprise to some, given that Sinn Féin introduced this Bill, but a household charge, in fact quite a burdensome one, is in operation in Northern Ireland.
All the services are also provided, however.
In the past two months the Sinn Féin Party has performed more stunts than Evel Knievel. From doctoring quotes from respected academics to last-minute publicity hungry court actions to this Bill tonight, it appears there is a common thread. We are using valuable Dáil time on a Bill that does not deserve to be called legislation. To call this piece of paper legislation gives this House a bad name. This, like many recent antics from Sinn Féin in this Chamber and beyond is about the next leaflet drop, campaign and opinion poll. The absence of any genuine political engagement on the issue of the charge exposes the complete and utter paucity of Sinn Féin policy on this and other critical matters of social and economic importance.
There is a grand deception at the heart of this approach. Sinn Féin puts party before country and to hell with the consequences. This Bill is Sinn Féin at its self-indulgent worst. The streak of toxic dishonesty that it brings to the debate pollutes and poisons the political atmosphere. It simply does everyone a disservice. Sinn Féin would rather play on people's fears than work with them for a better future. Its quest for power reminds me of the dog that chases the car - he would not know what to do with one if he caught it. On some occasions, the dog is so focused on catching the car, he eventually gets run over.
There will be many dogs chasing the Deputy's car at the next election.
The Sinn Féin Party does not come to this debate with clean hands either. Few believe its rhetoric on the household charge in this State when it demands on average the equivalent of €1,500 per household in the North. Is this not evidence of a partitionist mentality? Deputy Stanley should front up. His MLAs and councillors in the North are happy to suck over £1,000 out of three-bed semis in Newry and spend the money with vigour.
I also noted Deputy Stanley wondered aloud last night about what James Connolly might think of the Labour Party today. There are too many people on that side of the House who have an unhealthy interest in what James Connolly is doing in his grave. I suggest, however, the founder of the Labour Party could tell the difference between a bunch of power hungry populists and a party focused on giving the people back their self-respect and dignity. It is the toughest set of circumstances any Government in the history of State has inherited. The party of Connolly has maintained social welfare rates, restored the minimum wage and removed 330,000 people from the grip of the universal social charge. It does not posture, pontificate and sanctimoniously lecture everyone. It does not tell them there are easy options when there patently are not.
I recognise the difficulties imposed by this interim charging system. If we did not, we would be blind and stupid. I look forward to the Sinn Féin Party and Mahatma Boyd Barrett ditching their cynicism and proving their socialist credentials in joining in the support for moves towards a progressive, fair and equitable property taxation system in the future, away from flat charges. It is fair to say, however, we will not be holding our breath on that.
Introducing any new tax is always unpopular. However, introducing new taxes for any parliamentarian must be done in a responsible manner. Like all Deputies, I do not like burdening our citizens with extra taxes. Many who now support the Opposition may not thank the Government for introducing the household charge. However, future generations will look back at this time when the country is in an unprecedented economic crisis and thank the Government for taking hard but responsible decisions which sustained us. In the past, this country became totally dependent on unsustainable tax receipts from a property bubble which are no longer available to us. These tax receipts were funding public services for which alternative money must be found now. This country needs a sustainable revenue stream to fund local authorities and services.
Rather than being populist and political point-scoring like the Opposition, we should be looking for solutions rather than problems. It is not good to have legislators who are encouraging citizens to break the law. Where will those legislators be when the chickens come home to roost when penalties and increased charges will apply? They will probably be running for the hills at that stage.
Sinn Féin, in presenting this Bill, is speaking out of both sides of its mouth. As other Members pointed out earlier, the fact is it is prepared to charge an average of €1,000 per household in the North of Ireland for domestic rates.
That is not a fact.
The fact is it is more. It is €1,500.
I have not heard one Sinn Féin representative in the North of Ireland look for the abolition of those rates. They are happy to spend the charges on local services because they know they are needed. However, its representatives in this Parliament say the complete opposite. The citizens will see through this eventually but the sooner the better.
I want to add my voice to those of my Government colleagues who are opposing this legislation. I speak to highlight some of the inaccuracies I have heard, particularly in some of last night's debate, from the proposers of this legislation.
As Deputy Coffey pointed out, nobody in the Government wants a position where new charges or higher taxes must be paid, but the country finds itself in an unprecedented place. We have never been anywhere near this before and our Government is charged with taking serious decisions with a view to balancing the books and righting our economy. It was clear at the time of the election and subsequently that the memorandum of understanding entered into by the previous Government with the troika included the establishment of a property-based taxation system.
Sinn Féin and some of the Independent Members who spoke in support of this legislation are the only socialists I have met in the world who speak to oppose a tax on property. I am not a socialist, although I am not particularly happy about the prospect of imposing taxation such as this. Nevertheless, it is part of the legacy inherited by this Government and we will not be rewarded in future, as a Government, if we do not address the difficult position our economy is in. That is why I support my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, in introducing this particularly difficult legislation.
I agree with Deputy Coffey in his criticism of this notion - which seems to have become acceptable - that legislators would go around the country advocating the breaking of laws just because they argue that a specific law is unjust. If a political movement loses an argument, a vote in this House or an election, it does not mean it has the right to declare a law democratically enacted by a parliament as unjust. It does not bear examination to say this law is unjust. The Opposition has lost the argument on the need to balance the books in this economy and that is why this measure has been introduced.
In my part of the world, in south Kilkenny, the Sinn Féin Party is organising a series of public meetings in places it did not know existed until quite recently seeking extra funding for local services, which I find appalling. This is at a time when the party is calling on the public not to pay a tax which goes to providing those local services. It is crucial for the people who have paid this charge that those who have not yet contributed would be made do so. I have been struck by the number of members of the public who are not particularly happy about the household charge but who have paid it and who are adamant it should be collected from everybody. It is important this comes about.
We all remember the story of Little Red Riding Hood who was suckered in by her grandmother. When her grandmother removed her shawl, across her chest was a bandolero. In her left hand was an Armalite and in her right hand was a ballot box. That was the old tale.
What kind of tales has the Deputy heard?
The modern tale would see Little Red Riding Hood as the public. When she went to see her grandmother this time and the grandmother removed her shawl, across her chest was a bandolero full of ink cartridges rather than bullets. She had two heads, with one large head facing North and small head facing South. The large head would always pat the small southern head and keep it under control. The large head was in control of the northern area, imposing cuts and higher rates on the people.
The Deputy should stop taking those drugs. They are not doing him any good.
What did the little southern head say to this but: "No, no, no." These were the only words it knew. The northern head would pat the southern head and say: "There, there, you must learn what you must do when you come to power." Those in control of the northern head knew rates were important and the public in the North must receive all the required services.
The Deputy should stop slagging Donegal.
They also knew that in the North they were in control of district and regional rates. Did the northern head say to Little Red Riding Hood that those rates would be cut? No, it said to Little Red Riding Hood - the public - that those rates would be increased. The little southern head, when asked to introduce a household charge similar to that brought in by the northern head, said: "No, no, no."
This is some fairy tale. I would have been asleep at this stage if I heard this when I was younger.
Long lost.
There are two heads on the one body of Sinn Féin. The sad part is the party is already suckering many of the people into believing that what it is saying is right and proper. The people who paid the household charge in this country deserve to be respected, and those who do not pay will suffer through a lack of the services they seek. The body of Sinn Féin will one day have one head instead of two, and the party will scare Little Red Riding Hood.
We live in extraordinarily difficult economic times. We now require clear political thinking and difficult decisions to restore economic sovereignty, fix the banking system and get public finances under control. It is not long ago that this country was in a position similar to where Greece is now. At that time we had utter political chaos on top of economic instability, and for the last weeks of the previous Administration, we were a rudderless ship that was frightening to behold. In the 2011 election, everybody knew the state of the country's economic fortunes and was aware of the difficult decisions required. Although such issues will be difficult, I hope they will be fair.
We can consider a number of measures taken up to now. The Government has restored the minimum wage, introducing a baseline earning per hour for every man, woman and young adult in the country. It has removed 330,000 people from having to pay the universal social charge, increased mortgage interest relief and reconstructed joint labour committees following a ruling by the superior courts of this land. The Government maintained basic rates of social welfare and income tax levels in the first budget. It also managed to renegotiate two aspects of the deal with the troika, namely, the terms of the bailout and the promissory notes. In the 15 or 16 months this Government has been in office, it has taken several measures of note to protect the lower paid and those who felt the brunt of the economic collapse in this country.
Nobody wants to introduce a tax but this is in the memorandum of understanding. We are required to do so by the troika which is paying our bills. It should be borne in mind we are borrowing millions every month to fund essential public services, and that is before we even consider banking debt. That is the prison from which this Government is viewing the economic position, and its hands are therefore tied. None the less, I outlined a number of areas where it has protected the most vulnerable people.
It is incumbent on every Member in this House and each political grouping to produce proactive and constructive policies that could help us get out of the mess we are in. I congratulate Sinn Féin on having the brass neck to produce this Bill. In the North the party is working with the DUP to bring about savage austerity, and we can compare that with its utterances here about a Government that is proactive in working to get us out of the hole we are in. It is sheer hypocrisy. This is a €100 household charge. The time in the House this evening would be better spent debating a full and equitable property tax and making proposals which the Government can use.
The late Jim Kemmy always said the moral high ground was a lonely place and since February last year we have seen Sinn Féin take the moral high ground on one issue after another. A number of motions were passed at its recent conference. Motion No. 66 read: "This Ard Fheis calls on the Ard Chomhairle to draw up strict guidelines for all Sinn Féin public representatives with regard to the use of taxpayers money and the drawing down of expenses to ensure consistency of conduct across the party and maintain our credibility with the public". Reading this morning's edition of the Irish Independent for five minutes would put paid to that lie. Misappropriating taxpayers’ money to fund a political operation flies in the face of this motion. It is utter hypocrisy. About £500,000 has been drawn down from the British Exchequer to fund a political operation in this country, while maintaining an abstentionist policy at Westminster. This smacks of hypocrisy and plays to people’s fears, taking advantage of the misery they are experiencing. When people get up in the morning and wonder about the next utility bill or mortgage payment and then look at the difficult decisions being made by the Government, what do they see when they look at the Opposition? The answer is political hypocrisy and pious political platitudes. Sinn Féin does nothing but debase the reputation of politics. That is why politics has been besmirched to such a level because of sheer political cynicism at huge cost to the ordinary hard-pressed individual and at greater cost to the reputation of the body politic.
There is no party in this House that has a monopoly of wisdom in terms of what the people are suffering. Everyone in the House knows the terrible state the country is in and the difficult circumstances faced by people in their everyday lives. Every discussion, be it on television, radio or in the newspapers, is about the debt crisis in Europe, the slowing down of the world economy, the deficit crisis in this country given that we are borrowing €44 million a day or the implications and ramifications of the EU-IMF bailout programme. I listened to the five speeches made by Sinn Féin Members yesterday and they did not mention any of these topics once. The basic political and economic scenario facing the country has been ignored in Sinn Féin's Local Government (Household Charge)(Repeal) Bill. The circumstances I have outlined are directly impacting on the country and dictating the decisions that must be made to balance the books. They are not popular or easy, but they must be made. The five Deputies in question, Deputies Stanley, Ó Caoláin, Mac Lochlainn, Colreavy and McDonald, took no time to mention any of these issues when they came here to lecture us on taxation and economic policy.
Deputy Stanley has said politics is about making the right decisions, not the easy ones, and improving quality of life for ordinary people on low and middle incomes and that trading on empty truths does not pay bills, create jobs or strengthen communities. This comes from Sinn Féin which 16 months ago ran an election campaign in which it stated we did not need the EU-IMF deal and could survive on our own. It claimed the National Pension Reserve Fund could be used to fund services. I do not know how many times it has spent it by now; it must have been spent six times over in the last 16 months. Sinn Féin wanted to default, but it also wanted to borrow. It wanted the banks to collapse but lending to flow. It had every sort of populist economic fantasy. The truth is its economic policies have no credibility and there is no substance to them, except short-term political gain.
Deputy Stanley has also said to Labour Party backbenchers that the members of the public who elected them are sick to the back teeth of hearing that things could be worse, that they could not be worse for families. My own personal view as a Labour Party backbencher, because we are separate parties with separate ideologies in a coalition, is that a Fine Gael Government would not have reversed the cut in the minimum wage. I have talked to Deputies and there was definite consternation about it.
Fine Gael argued strongly in favour of it.
A Fine Gael Government would not have removed 330,000 from the universal social charge, as the speeches made in the Dáil show.
Deputy Coffey disagrees.
A Fine Gael Government would not have reinstated the legislation to protect people in JLCs, on which the Minister's comments were clear. A Fine Gael Government would not have protected the basic rates of social welfare. That is a fact and I would rather be honest with the people and achieve something in Government and have an input to a programme for Government at the most difficult time the country has ever faced, rather than be the cynical shower sitting on the Opposition benches taking cheap shot after cheap shot with no economic substance or though-out policy. I will go back to the people at the next election-----
And be sacked.
-----with a record of delivery, not one of rhetoric and exploiting people's fears and difficult circumstances at one of the most testing times in the history of the State.
The Local Government (Household Charge)(Repeal) Bill 2012 which has been brought before the House by Sinn Féin is not a Bill, rather it is a one line cop-out that clearly demonstrates Sinn Féin is not ready to take on the responsibility that goes with government. However, it demonstrates that its current position is a calculated political strategy based on the premise that if things get worse for Ireland, they get better for it.
An accusation has been made that the household charge is unfair and unjust. That is a nonsense.
The leader of the Labour Party admitted that earlier.
It cannot be both. A property tax is a wealth tax supported by every serious left-wing party in Europe. Therefore, if it is politically unjust to Sinn Féin, it reveals its true political position.
The leader of the Labour Party said it was unjust.
Census figures show that 44% of owner-occupiers have no mortgage. This means Sinn Féin is proposing that nearly half of residential property owners who have no mortgage or mortgage arrears and are not in negative equity should not pay a property tax. That is not to raise the question of those who acquired properties for investment purposes.
The Labour Party in government is committed to having progressive income and property taxes. We know what Sinn Féin's views are on the household charge, but what are its views on progressive property taxes? To date, it has avoided the challenge of answering that question, adopting a St. Augustine of Hippo position of "Lord, please give me property taxes, just not yet." Surely it must acknowledge the difference between a person buying a home under the tenant purchase scheme as in my parish of Ballyphehane and a person buying the vacant palace owned by the late Charles Haughey. I seriously call on it to withdraw this nonsensical Bill and, failing that, on every serious left-wing Member of the House to vote against it.
I will not lecture anyone, particularly those listening at home to this debate. This is a genuine attempt to highlight the issue. Most people who have not paid the household charge believe it is unjust and unfair. The majority of those who have contacted me on the issue say that is why they have not paid it.
I missed the debate last night because I was meeting groups dealing with the effects of poverty. They told me - the ESRI backs up the claim - that the last budget was the most unfair budget for those on low incomes that had ever been introduced by a Government.
By maintaining basic rates of social welfare.
That is what the ESRI states.
By reversing the cuts to the minimum wage.
The Labour Party claims our economic policies are nonsensical, but the ESRI, an established group, states the opposite. The figures in its publications confirm this.
Government Deputies are talking about fairytales and cynicism. I have heard a lot of fairytales and the people are sick to the back teeth of them. No one has a monopoly on the way forward or on alterative suggestions to get the country back on its feet. At the end of the day, my party and the people who voted for it did not create this mess.
Neither did we.
Most people would accept that, although the Labour Party might not. Reference was made to people being cynical during the last election but it has been stated that Sinn Féin voters did not support the party on this issue, which is absolute nonsense. That is another fairytale. Reference was also made to credibility.
What are Sinn Féin's solutions?
Let us look at what the Labour Party and Fine Gael said prior to the last election about what they would do and the changes they would bring about.
Has Sinn Féin any independently costed proposals?
They did not promise people they would implement these taxes. Deputy Gilmore promised "Frankfurt's way or Labour's way". Angela Merkel's way has stepped forward.
At the end of the day, we have policies rather than the fairytales the Government has made up. The legislation attempts to reverse this unfair tax. People who deal with poverty every day of the week are saying the Government has made the situation worse for people on low and middle incomes. The Government has mishandled the introduction of the tax and it will not alleviate the suffering people are experiencing. It will not help people in local authority areas who want more services. The Government parties need to ask themselves what are the alternatives. Sinn Féin has suggested alternatives.
Tell us one.
We believe there should be a wealth tax. The household charge imposes the greatest percentage loss on those on low incomes, according to the ESRI. How can the Government and, in particular, our comrades in the Labour Party justify a tax, which ordinary people with meagre incomes are expected to pay on the same basis as millionaires? That is unfair. People ask me why they should have to pay the same as millionaires. Why should an elderly person or someone on social welfare have to pay for people who ripped off this country and created the mess? That is where the anger is coming from among ordinary people and that is why they will not pay the charge. One only has to look at the number of law abiding, decent people who say there is no way they will pay this. That took a great deal of courage and we should recognise that. The Labour Party does not have a monopoly on what is right and wrong in this House.
Nor does the Deputy.
Part of the problem in the House always is that Government parties have a pact and no one listens to anyone who has an alternative view. Government Members would want to start listening because people are starting to think for themselves.
Last night, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, called the household charge "a very narrow part" of the Government's programme but this is incorrect. It represents an important part of what the Government parties are about, which is sneakily attempting to make ordinary people pay more than their fair share for the bailout process Fianna Fáil started and they are happy to continue. This charge, which Ministers earning €170,000 a year are so eager to claim is paltry or nominal, is not about helping to fund local services or any other services; it is about fulfilling the deal struck with the ECB and the IMF. The final part of this section of the agreement requires the implementation of a full property tax. The rumour is that this will be taken from PAYE workers' wages in the same way the Government threatened people to pay the household charge or face the Minister for Justice and Equality's dreaded attachment orders, which were aimed at old age pensioners and other social welfare claimants, something the Labour Party and others said they totally opposed.
The household charge is a ham-fisted gimmick which fails miserably to take into account the differences between those who have a barely manageable mortgage for two-bedroom apartments in Santry, Finglas and Ballymun and those who own their Killiney mansions outright. Sinn Féin opposed this charge and made its arguments against it clear from the outset. It is an unfair flat rate charge, which will not benefit the people who pay it or the public services they and other residents of the State rely on. The Taoiseach joked and made light of the cost of the charge by saying it amounted to "less then €2 a week" but, as is par for the course, this was a serious distortion of the facts and a great example of his completely removed position from ordinary people. The charge cannot be paid in weekly instalments and it was to be paid within a set period or those liable would face late fines. Many opposed the charge on principle and not because of an inability to pay but, for some, the ability to spare €100 and pay the Government in one lump sum as if they were not struggling to keep their heads above water and as if their fair share has not been paid was too much for their bank balances and their stomachs.
In their hundreds and thousands, people rejected this charge. I called for the House to reconvene the week after the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis to put this Bill into action, having recognised the abject failure of the Government to convince the people of the legitimacy of this charge. My call fell on deaf ears, as did the calls of thousands of people who surrounded the venue of the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis. The leading Government party even closed the blinds unable to bear the sight of a people no longer willing to put up with this. The Government is intent on making the ordinary person pay repeatedly for services he or she is increasingly not receiving in order that the State can meet its nonsensical commitments to Europe through taxation and a plethora of charges based on its failure to plan a proper taxation system and provide services efficiently where needed.
Deputies Nash and Coffey barked at Sinn Féin about the North, pretending to care for the first time since partition about how the people of the Six Counties are faring under the Stormont Executive. Unfortunately, Stormont does not have fiscal powers and the Government has done little to help change that but I am glad the rates paid by the residents of the Six Counties are frozen at an average of €866 a year.
Sinn Féin has power over the regional part of that charge.
Each household receives in return waste collection, fire services, septic tank desludging, school transport and school books. The rates fund local services and the residents there also go without tolls and toll operator subsidies and are not subject to water charges. I hope this allays the fears of the Minister of State's colleagues about the plight of the people of Northern Ireland and I also hope their relief is used to focus better on providing progressive solutions to our financial problems and not solutions that begin and end with the people who can afford it the least paying the most. Ba mhaith liom an Bille seo a moladh.
During the debate, my colleagues have described in great detail the impact the household charge will have on low and middle income families. Not only is this flat rate charge unfair, it will make life demonstrably harder for many thousands of families struggling to make ends meet. I am sure the Minister of State must be aware from her constituency clinics of these people to whom I refer. However, I would like to focus on a different aspect of the household charge, namely its impact on the domestic economy, jobs and our prospects for economic recovery. This week, both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance said their economic strategy - if one could call it that - is on track. They say GDP growth returned in 2011, GDP projections for 2012 remain on track and unemployment is stabilising. Unfortunately for the Government, the hard facts tell a different story. The last two quarters of 2011 saw a return to negative growth in GDP. In other words, the State is officially back in recession. In fact, the domestic economy, where most of the jobs are, has not been out of recession in the past five years and GNP continues to contract at an alarming pace. Unemployment has not stabilised, with the latest Central Statistics Office quarterly household survey showing that 14.8% of the labour force are out of work. Meanwhile, the ESRI report published this week forecasts that unemployment will continue to rise this year. These figures do not include the tens of thousands of people - many of them young - who, faced with a State that has utterly failed them, are emigrating in search of work.
These hard facts confirm what people across the State are experiencing every single day, week and month, namely, unemployment, emigration, financial stress and real human hardship. Contrary to the Government's claims that the economy has turned a corner, the reality is that we are in the grip of an economic, unemployment and emigration crisis. In the midst of these overlapping crises, what is the response of Fine Gael and the Labour Party in government? Their great plan is to take more money out of the pockets of hard-pressed families in the form of VAT hikes, petrol and diesel tax increases and the household charge. These taxes and charges not only push families into ever greater levels of financial hardship but also damage the domestic economy. Every euro the Government takes out of the pocket of a low or middle-income family is a euro taken out of the domestic economy. It is a euro not spent on local goods and services, with the result that more struggling businesses lose trade and are forced to lay of staff. This leads to more unemployment, more emigration, less tax revenue and increased social welfare expenditure.
In my constituency of Donegal South-West - I cannot be sure it will remain as such after the boundary commission has had its say - the impact of the Government's failed approach can be seen every day. It is there in the classrooms where dozens of the primary teachers who finish work this week will not be allowed to return in September because of the Government's policy of attacking rural schools and the children seeking to be educated in them. It can be seen in the closure of Garda stations in rural areas throughout the county and the threat to the district headquarters in the Glenties areas. Policy failures are clear to see in the pending closure of Lifford Community Hospital, whose patients the Government wants to evict as it has done to other vulnerable people in other counties. The Government's ineptitude can be seen in the bed closures in Letterkenny General Hospital that are inevitable unless the Government allows the recruitment moratorium to be lifted and provides additional funding for their retention.
Does the Deputy have any positive suggestions?
I know it is difficult for the Minister of State to hear this, but that is what she is paid for.
The Deputy is proposing to take €90 million out of local authority funding. How will that be replaced?
The story of the Government's failure is seen in the plight of the countless constituents who come to me and colleagues throughout the State in great distress. Some are waiting to receive carer's benefit, the waiting list for which has increased to 15 weeks since the Government took office. Applicants for disability pensions are facing a 31-week wait before their claims are processed. There are delays of up to a year for applicants awaiting the outcome of social welfare appeals. This Government's abject failure is heard in the stories of people forced to go to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul seeking money to purchase fuel for their houses in gallon drums. These are all the signs of the Government's failure.
We are attempting to address the economic crisis we inherited. What positive suggestions does the Deputy have to address it?
Deputy Doherty should be allowed to continue without interruption.
Fortunately, thousands upon thousands of people across my county have declared that enough is enough. They are standing up to this Government's incompetence and to the attacks it is launching on low and middle-income earners by refusing to pay the household charge. The Minister of State should heed the message they are sending.
All we hear from the Deputy is "No". Does he have anything constructive to contribute?
She should take on the board the fact that this was their only option to strike a blow to the heart of the Government and to assert that they have had enough of austerity. Their message to the Government parties is that they have betrayed the Irish people by failing to deliver the promised change in direction. The Minister of State and her colleagues have betrayed the founders of their party. She should do the right thing by supporting the Sinn Féin motion, scrapping the household charge and introducing fair and equitable proposals.
How will we pay for services?
Many of the proposals we have put forward were championed by the Minister of State and her colleagues when they were on this side of the House.
There has been some questioning from the other side of the House of my party's attitude to the household charge, with calls for us to get off the fence and state our position unequivocally. Let me clear up any confusion by making that position absolutely clear. We have opposed the charge from the very outset and voted against the legislation at every Stage in this House and in the Seanad. Our party comprises the largest body of elected Deputies and Senators who are opposed to the charge.
Yet the Deputy's party voted for the bank bailout.
I ask the Minister of State to allow Deputy O'Brien to continue. There is limited time available for all the speakers who wish to contribute.
We have organised public meetings in every county in the State to inform people of our opposition to this charge. We have tabled motions in almost every city, county and town council in opposition to it, many of which have been passed with the support of members of the Minister of State's party. Those representatives seem to be far more in touch with reality than their colleagues in the Labour Party living inside the Oireachtas bubble. Moreover, rather than merely stating our opposition to the charge, we have taken action to seek its repeal. The Bill brought forward by my colleague, Deputy Brian Stanley, seeks to reverse the disgraceful measure the Government imposed on ordinary citizens.
Some have questioned why we have not actively called on citizens to boycott the charge. We have not done so because people do not need politicians to preach to them. They have had enough of that from the Government. People are intelligent enough to make informed decisions for themselves, just as I have made an informed personal decision not to pay the household charge. Many people throughout the State have taken the same decision for the same reasons, namely, that it is an unfair and unjust tax.
I do not buy into the argument put forward by this Government that the household charge is necessary to fund local services. During my ten years as a member of Cork City Council I listened to members of the Labour Party complaining about the cuts in local government funding that were imposed by the Fianna Fáil Party in government. Yet, in its first budget upon assuming office, the Labour Party did precisely what its local representatives had been complaining about for a decade in regard to Fianna Fáil by cutting the local government fund by more than what this charge would bring in even if every eligible householder paid it.
Last night the Minister of State, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd, sought to justify the obligation on him, as a member of Government, to introduce unfair and unjust taxes such as this. One of the excuses offered was, "The troika made us do it". The troika also stipulated that the Government must bring forward legislation to deal with personal debt, but that Bill has not yet been published.
It will be published soon.
The Government had no problem drafting legislation to dip into the pockets of ordinary citizens, but it is dragging its feet on a Bill that could restore money to pockets and assist those who are in severe distress as a consequence of personal indebtedness. The Minister of State should not lecture me.
It is Deputy O'Brien who is lecturing me.
Deputy O'Brien must be allowed to conclude.
I am putting the realties on the record. The Government picks and chooses which troika Bills it wants to draft and implement as quickly as possible. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, referred to our position on rates in the North and he tried to use that as another reason to impose the household charge. It is quite clear he has no confidence in his own position. We are very confident in regard to what we are trying to achieve in the Six Counties, namely, to regain fiscal powers, to try to regain sovereignty for the 32 counties and to act in the interests of the citizens of this island, North and South, and not in the interests of the troika, which is what the Government is doing.
In regard to the Government's bully boy tactics, we heard a letter will be sent to every household which has refused to pay this charge. It should save itself the cost of a stamp and not send one to me because I will not be paying this unfair and unjust charge.
I commend Teachta Brian Stanley on bringing forward this repeal Bill. We all know - the Government even admits it itself - the household charge has been a disaster for all those citizens burdened with paying it and for this Government which has stubbornly insisted on imposing it. It should be scrapped. Everybody makes mistakes and the Government should simply scrap this charge and introduce fairer and more equitable measures to raise the finance needed to fund local government.
Thus far, the household charge has fallen far short of the €100 million it was expected to raise. At the same time, almost 50% of households are still refusing to pay. Many are refusing to pay because they cannot afford to do so. The charge is so obviously unjust that many ordinary citizens who would never think of breaking the law have decided to take a stand and refuse to pay. It is also acknowledged that many of those who have paid have done so under duress and the fear of legal sanction.
This household charge is flawed and it is a failed tax. It punishes citizens for the failure of Government and the greed of bankers, developers and corrupt politicians. It targets the disadvantaged and those on low and middle incomes who are struggling to make ends meet. I have seen this throughout the State - I attended many of the meetings some of my colleagues spoke about - and in my constituency of County Louth and east Meath. Working people are carrying the burden for the debt of corrupt politicians, speculative financiers and bankers.
What is the Government to do? Will it take everyone to court? Will it deduct payment at source causing more poverty? Will it run scare campaigns to frighten citizens into paying? All of this is costly and divisive and is evidence of the failure of the austerity strategy and what has been happening for the past 12 months.
Deputy Adams will be able to tell me how it is collected in Northern Ireland.
This Government has failed to stand against the payment of a €3.1 billion promissory note and has, in fact, boasted that it has not asked for a write down of the unjust banking debt imposed on Irish citizens and which has forced more of our people, in particular our young people, to emigrate. We made an alternative budget submission but the Government has failed to introduce practical and effective job creation and growth strategies to get people back to work and get the economy growing.
Despite its refusal to stand up to the big people, it is prepared to impose all of these new taxes and charges on those who can least afford to pay for them. I have only been in the House for a year but I see Labour Party Ministers carrying the can in this Chamber for Fine Gael. I see that time and again. Where is the Minister, Deputy Hogan, tonight?
We carry the can for ourselves and not for anybody else.
I am glad the Minister of State admits that.
The Government could introduce a cap on wages in the public sector at €100,000, which would raise €265 million. It could introduce a third tax band of 48% on earnings over €100,000, which would bring in €410 million in a fair and progressive way. These are just two examples.
The household charge has been rejected by the people. As I said, the Government should move to scrap the charge and reimburse those who have paid. I urge all Deputies to examine this issue, recognise the deep hurt this policy is causing, accept there are more socially equitable means of raising local government funding and support this Bill.
One of the main responses from the Government side to people who oppose the household charge is that €100 is a relatively small amount of money. It is, of course, relative.
It is a bit smaller than what people in Belfast pay.
For some households, €100 is a significant sum of money as it is for people who find themselves in a situation where they are already struggling. In the current climate, that is one of the main reasons to oppose the charge politically and for householders to refuse to pay the charge. How can the Minister of State justify Bono paying €100 and somebody on €20,000 or €18,000 per year with a family paying €100?
We will get more from Bono next year.
How can the Minister of State, as a Labour Party Minister supposedly protecting and defending the working class, be associated with the household charge? How can she do that as a socialist?
Sinn Féin is a separatist party down here.
How can she justify people who do not pay one cent in tax in this country and who have property worth millions of euro and people who are paupers paying €100? How can she justify that to the people of Limerick, Moyross and Southill and people who are struggling to put food on the table and to send their children to school? How can she call herself a Labour Party Minister?
How can the Labour Party sit in Government with Fine Gael? At least we know what Fine Gael is going to do. It will defend the class of people it represents but the Labour Party is supposed to defend working class people.
We believe in a fair system.
Let us get back to the Bill, please.
How can the Minister of State justify that? How can Deputy Griffin justify it to the people of Keel, Castlemaine, Tralee and Cahirciveen?
The boundaries will not change until tomorrow.
How can Deputy Griffin justify it to those people and to low income families struggling to put bread on the table?
Are people not struggling in Derry?
The Government will not attack the people who can afford to pay most but it will attack the most vulnerable, who are easy targets. It will attack the unemployed, old age pensioners, people who are struggling day in, day out and people with disabilities.
(Interruptions).
Deputy Ferris has the floor.
Deputy Griffin and the Minister of State should be ashamed of themselves coming in here and standing over and imposing this charge on people who are struggling on a daily basis. How can they defend the indefensible, because that is what everyone on that side of the House is trying to do? It is an absolute disgrace.
Deputy Griffin, the Minister of State and I know people in our constituencies who cannot put food on the table. I have a letter, which was sent to Deputy Adams's office and which was sent to the Taoiseach, from people who were unable to pay their mortgage or feed their children. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul had to intervene to help them. These people are being forced to pay the €100 charge.
The Minister of State is an absolute disgrace. She is supposed to be a socialist and protect the legacy of James Connolly, but she has disgraced it. The Labour Party promised everything and said it would not be Frankfurt's way but the Labour Party's way. We now know the Labour Party's way. It is to penalise the poor and victimise the people most repressed in our society. It is an absolute disgrace.
We sat in this Chamber last night and tonight and listened to the posturing of Sinn Féin and others on a Bill which is irresponsible, ill-thought out and ideologically bankrupt. Sinn Féin and others want to repeal recently enacted legislation which has, to date, raised €94.5 million. I did not hear one of them tell me where else we would get that money. These funds enable the continuation of essential local services and ensure we are moving towards placing the funding of local authorities on a stable and sustainable financial footing.
Introducing a charge in 2012 is part of the agreement to which Ireland is committed with the troika and it will be replaced next year by a progressive property tax. I hope the Deputies will support that but I will not hold my breath.
The Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 is a vital funding element of public services at local level. The income from that goes towards the upkeep of streets, the maintenance of parks, playgrounds and green areas, the lighting of towns and villages, and the continuation of library services and many more amenities and facilities that people take for granted. Sinn Féin obviously believes these services to communities are unnecessary as it wants to remove the funding stream that enables their provision. Sinn Féin is a party that positions itself to the left on the political spectrum, yet believes an Act that introduces a charge of €100 on the ownership of property - an amount that is by international standards relatively minimal and falls far short of the €800 or more that people living on the Falls Road in Belfast pay under a Sinn Féin Administration - should be repealed. It believes legislation that requires those who own property to contribute towards local services in their area, services that everybody, including the poorest, can enjoy, is inappropriate and should be removed from our Statute Book. It appears that Sinn Féin is losing touch with the realities of everyday life for those who need those very services, in addition to ignoring the urgency of having funding in place that guarantees services. This is politics at its most irresponsible. It is nothing more than a cheap, populist exercise on Sinn Féin's part.
The charge is an interim measure and was always intended to be so. The Government has always been clear on this and on its intention to introduce a full value-based property tax in due course. Designing, legislating for and implementing a comprehensive value-based property tax takes time. The household charge measure is preferable to the alternative of rushing through a poorly designed or badly implemented property tax to meet the troika's timeframe. It is a measure to ensure local authorities have the resources necessary to continue to deliver services to their communities while the option for a value-based property tax is given full consideration. In this regard, an interdepartmental expert group was established in February to consider the structures and modalities of a full property tax. The group has recently submitted its report to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. The approach to the report will be considered by the Government in due course.
Many of the comments last night and tonight were framed as if the Government were unaware of or unconcerned by equity issues. This is simply not the case. It is precisely because of these issues that the Government is taking the time required to ensure the full property tax, when introduced, will be as equitable and fair as possible. It is for this very reason we introduced the household charge as an interim measure. Equity is an important element of the terms of reference of the expert interdepartmental group. In the context of the property tax framework, the Government will ensure the issue of fairness and the implications for personal circumstances, income levels and property values are given full consideration. We will not take any lectures from Sinn Féin in that regard.
When imposing the €100 charge, the Government was very concerned with fairness. In this regard, we ensured a number of exemptions and waivers were included in the legislation. There is a balance in that the exemptions and waivers must be targeted at those who genuinely need them while ensuring the overall charge is kept as low as possible. The Government has been successful in this regard. More than 17,200 people have registered for waivers to date. The charge of €100 is low by international and Northern Ireland standards. I am satisfied that many of the most vulnerable groups in society are either exempted or entitled to a waiver from the charge. In addition to the inclusion of exemptions, provision was made for payment by instalment.
Last night, Deputies stated the majority of people have not paid the charge, and they have repeated this tonight. As of 15 June, just under 960,000 residential properties, or 60% of estimated liable properties, had been registered. As stated, €94.5 million has been raised. This is recognition by the broad majority of the population that the charge is necessary to enable the provision of local services and meet our obligations under the EU-IMF programme of financial support for Ireland, which commits us to a property tax.
We all know too well now that our economy, especially our tax revenue, was overly reliant on activity in the construction sector. The decline in the yield from transaction taxes such as stamp duty, capital gains tax and value added tax on property generally has been a major factor in the imbalance in the public finances. We are spending more than we are raising. The necessary correction is sharp and difficult, as we acknowledge. Unfortunately, more needs to be done over the coming years. The introduction of the €100 household charge on residential property is one of the measures that must be taken, reflecting the EU-IMF support programme to close the gap between expenditure and revenue. However, as my colleagues emphasised last night, it should be seen as more than simply a measure to raise revenue. It is a structural change to the State's revenue-raising system and forms the platform on which to base the full value-based property tax in due course.
The Bill proposed by Sinn Féin is wrong. The repeal of the Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 would leave a hole in the public finances, putting us in breach of the EU-IMF programme. It would mean basic local services would be discontinued and our attempts to place local government funding on a sustainable footing and to move away from the volatility of the revenue-raising measures favoured by our predecessors would come to naught. It would mean we would have learned very little from the recent economic crisis and would have failed to grasp the need for a sea-change in respect of how we raise revenue to provide basic necessities for our citizens. The Government cares about the financial legacy it leaves to the next generation and that is why I urge the House to reject this Bill. It would be great if we could hear some positive proposals from Sinn Féin occasionally.
I thank Sinn Féin for allowing me speaking time. I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak on this matter because the Government made a serious error in the way it handled the raising of more taxes. It proceeded in a bungling manner. The Minister, who is not present because he is in the bikini capital of the world, Rio de Janeiro-----
He is there with many people who care about the planet.
I did not interrupt the Minister of State and I hope she will afford me the same respect I afforded her.
I attended meetings with young people with young families and elderly people, and I attended meetings organised by Deputy Ferris, his daughter and others. At all these meetings, I noted people who are genuinely worried and terrified. They are terrified about the €100 charge. The Government told them they had to pay €100 but that the charge would not be €100 again. It will not tell them what the next charge will be, although it will be more than €100.
It will be based on the size of one's house.
They are terrified. There are old people struggling on low incomes and husbands and wives who were both working a couple of years ago but who now have absolutely no work. The latter are living on welfare and trying to pay back massive mortgages. On top of that, they will be hit with the property tax, which they believe is unfair because it is treating struggling families in the same way as multi-millionaires with big mansions. That cannot be and is not right. This is why it makes sense to vote tonight.
I have listened to the debate since 7.30 p.m. Members on the Government side have attacked Members on this side and suggested they are not entitled to come in here and introduce a Private Members' Bill. Of course there are entitled to do so. They are elected and Sinn Féin is entitled, as a party, to introduce a Private Members' Bill. It is wrong for people to criticise the party for doing so. If the very people that were attacking Sinn Féin tonight had been at the public meetings, attended by 500, 700 or 1,000 people, and had been told the people believed what the Government was doing was unfair, they would certainly not be looking down their noses at the Members who introduced the Private Members' Bill tonight. They would be saying the Members are elected to make their case.
There are people watching what is happening this evening. They are listening to what Members have to say about the €100 charge. There are those who are genuinely terrified as to what the charge will be in the future. They wonder whether they will be able to pay and what they will have to sacrifice to come up with the fee. These people have been hit hard, they are vulnerable and are at a very low time in their lives. There are struggling to send young children to school and educate them in the best way they can. They are trying to maintain a certain standard of living for them and to keep food on the table.
To be sneering and laughing at the Bill tonight is wrong and disrespectful to people outside the House. The day on which one treats people with disrespect is a bad day for politics and the politicians involved. They should not be looking down on anybody. I am concerned about the people affected and I am grateful for having had the opportunity to speak.
I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill and I commend my colleague, Deputy Stanley, on bringing it before the House. I concur with some of the sentiments of Deputy Healy-Rae, who made a great deal of sense.
Sinn Féin has consistently opposed the household charge since its introduction in December 2011 and has done so for a number of reasons. First, it is our belief that the charge is fundamentally unfair in that it fails to differentiate between those on low incomes and the rich. Simply put, the household charge penalises hard-pressed middle class families, the working poor and those on social welfare while the wealthy and affluent avoid paying their just share. Where is the fairness in expecting a single man in receipt of €188 on invalidity pension to pay the same as someone earning €100,000 or more? It is just not fair. The household charge is a product of the Government's decision to cut funding to local authorities. This funding was then redirected for other purposes.
The Fine Gael-Labour Government had, of course, other options and it could have raised the €160 million needed for local authorities in a variety of ways. For example, it could have capped public service pay at €100,000, increased taxes on high earners and introduced a wealth tax. The Government could have made a determined effort to improve its collection of commercial water rates, 48% of which still remain uncollected. However, it made a conscious and ill-conceived decision to penalise ordinary people, a significant proportion of whom are already struggling to survive.
In my constituency of Cork East, I am, unfortunately, all too familiar with the difficulties people face as a result of this charge. For example, one of my constituents, a 55 year old man with special needs, was so terrified and frightened by the charge that he came to my constituency office seeking assistance. Although in receipt of invalidity benefit of €188, this gentleman was still expected to pay the €100 household charge as he lived alone in a small house left to him by his recently deceased mother.
Another of my constituents, a full-time carer was also very concerned about where she was going to find the extra money to pay this additional tax. This woman, like so many others, was living on a carer's allowance of €188 a week and already finding it difficult to make ends meet. Surely this, and other examples, highlight the inherently unjust nature of the household charge.
Indeed, this charge is so essentially flawed and unjust that it should be scrapped. Ordinary people throughout Ireland are aware of this fact as are significant sections of the trade union movement, community groups and civil society. The Government's blinkered approach to this issue as evidenced by its refusal to look for alternative sources of funding, coupled with ongoing threats to cut essential local services, is yet another chapter in the politics of fear. The Labour Party's willingness to be an active participant in implementing this and other charges, and the speed with which it betrayed those who voted for it at the last general election, is evidence, as if it were needed, of how out of touch the Government is with ordinary people.
Sinn Féin is committed to building a fair, just and more equitable society. The Local Government (Household Charge)(Repeal) Bill 2012 is an attempt to begin this process. With this in mind, I would urge Opposition and, indeed, Government Members to support this Bill and repeal the household charge.
I thank the Members from all parties for contributing to the debate last night and tonight. I thank the Fine Gael Member, Deputy Lawlor, for his performance of Little Red Riding Hood and the Sinn Féin story. I have a granddaughter who is six years of age and she loves Little Red Riding Hood but she is absolutely mad about Sinn Féin, and I will arrange to have it taped and we will play it to her every night.
Life is too short.
She will have nightmares after it.
In summing up our argument in favour of the Bill, I must challenge some of the half-truths, untruths and myths that have been promoted by those on the Government benches.
Over recent days, the Government has claimed that the household charge is the property tax for slow learners. They claimed it is forced on Irish people, not by the Government but by the troika. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan and I know that is simply not true. The troika, of which I am not a defender, never dictated that there had to be a household charge, nor did it dictate how it should be imposed. Did the Government ask for it to be removed? When the Government met the troika shortly after last year's election, it did not demand that any reference to a property tax be removed because it supports a charge on people's homes. The truth is the Minister of State is using the troika as a smokescreen behind which to hide and dragging the Labour Party along with her.
Sinn Féin agrees that local government needs to be properly and adequately funded. Sinn Féin will continue to put forward fully costed options, as we have over recent nights.
Fairy tales.
Even during this debate we put forward a number of proposals that fully fund local government and the €165 million the Government took out of the local government fund last year. These proposals would not increase the burden on low and middle income PAYE worker or those in receipt of welfare.
The Government's contribution has been a charge that does the opposite. It penalises those who are already feeling the burden of five austerity budgets. It forces the lone parent further into poverty. It forces families to decide between bills and food, and we all have heard those stories. The charge is fundamentally flawed and any analysis would bring one to that conclusion.
It is sheer arrogance that the Government could not even see to allowing for waivers. It did not allow us last December the opportunity-----
Why does Deputy Stanley not propose that now?
------to discuss the amendments on waivers.
Why does Deputy Stanley use his time constructively and propose that now?
Order.
The Government guillotined the debate-----
There are ways.
There are ways.
-----and denied the parties on the Opposition benches here last December the right even to discuss the possibility of a waiver.
There is a waiver.
There is not an inability to pay clause. There is none. Those on disability, the unemployed, pensioners and lone parents are all saddled with the same burden as the millionaire and the banker. This goes to core of the Government.
Some 17,000 have waivers.
The Government has no heart. It does not even have a veneer of cherishing all the children of the nation equally. If one cannot pay, one faces the full rigours of the law. Ordinary law-abiding citizens who do not pay or who cannot afford to pay face the trauma of being dragged through the courts and facing a fine of up to €2,500. If one cannot afford the household charge of €100, one is criminalised and faces fines of €2,500. This make no sense. At the current level of non-payment, which, according to the Government figures, is at 43% in my constituency of Laoighis-Offaly, the Government will have to drag hundreds of thousands of citizens to court, prosecute them and fine them for the sake of €100. Shame on the Government for doing so.
Someone told me how they collect it in the North.
This is indefensible, unacceptable and will be resisted every step of the way. I would happily pay more income tax-----
Will they abolish rates in the North as well?
-----if I thought the Government would put it into good health services and services that are needed. We did not only oppose this unjust tax over the past two nights, we put forward clear viable alternatives at central and local level.
I want to leave the Minister of State with the view of Ms Louise Bayliss, a lone parent, a proud mother and an activist in the SPARK organisation that represents lone parents. She asks that on this issue all Members of all parties look into their hearts and do the right thing by vote "Yes" to this Bill.
Question put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 46; Níl, 79.
Tá
- Adams, Gerry.
- Boyd Barrett, Richard.
- Broughan, Thomas P.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Collins, Niall.
- Colreavy, Michael.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Daly, Clare.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Donnelly, Stephen S.
- Dooley, Timmy.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- Ferris, Martin.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Fleming, Tom.
- Grealish, Noel.
- Halligan, John.
- Healy, Seamus.
- Healy-Rae, Michael.
- Higgins, Joe.
- Kelleher, Billy.
- Lowry, Michael.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McConalogue, Charlie.
- McDonald, Mary Lou.
- McGrath, Finian.
- McGrath, Mattie.
- McGrath, Michael.
- McGuinness, John.
- McLellan, Sandra.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Murphy, Catherine.
- Ó Caoláin, Caoimhghín.
- Ó Cuív, Éamon.
- Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- O’Brien, Jonathan.
- O’Dea, Willie.
- O’Sullivan, Maureen.
- Pringle, Thomas.
- Ross, Shane.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Troy, Robert.
- Wallace, Mick.
Níl
- Bannon, James.
- Barry, Tom.
- Breen, Pat.
- Buttimer, Jerry.
- Byrne, Catherine.
- Cannon, Ciarán.
- Carey, Joe.
- Coffey, Paudie.
- Collins, Áine.
- Conaghan, Michael.
- Conlan, Seán.
- Conway, Ciara.
- Corcoran Kennedy, Marcella.
- Creighton, Lucinda.
- Daly, Jim.
- Deenihan, Jimmy.
- Deering, Pat.
- Doherty, Regina.
- Donohoe, Paschal.
- Dowds, Robert.
- Durkan, Bernard J.
- English, Damien.
- Farrell, Alan.
- Feighan, Frank.
- Fitzpatrick, Peter.
- Flanagan, Charles.
- Flanagan, Terence.
- Griffin, Brendan.
- Hannigan, Dominic.
- Harrington, Noel.
- Harris, Simon.
- Hayes, Brian.
- Hayes, Tom.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Humphreys, Heather.
- Humphreys, Kevin.
- Keaveney, Colm.
- Kehoe, Paul.
- Kenny, Seán.
- Kyne, Seán.
- Lawlor, Anthony.
- Lynch, Ciarán.
- Lynch, Kathleen.
- Lyons, John.
- McCarthy, Michael.
- McGinley, Dinny.
- McHugh, Joe.
- McLoughlin, Tony.
- Maloney, Eamonn.
- Mathews, Peter.
- Mitchell, Olivia.
- Mitchell O’Connor, Mary.
- Mulherin, Michelle.
- Murphy, Dara.
- Murphy, Eoghan.
- Nash, Gerald.
- Neville, Dan.
- Nolan, Derek.
- Ó Ríordáin, Aodhán.
- O’Donnell, Kieran.
- O’Donovan, Patrick.
- O’Dowd, Fergus.
- O’Mahony, John.
- O’Reilly, Joe.
- O’Sullivan, Jan.
- Perry, John.
- Phelan, Ann.
- Phelan, John Paul.
- Sherlock, Sean.
- Shortall, Róisín.
- Spring, Arthur.
- Stagg, Emmet.
- Stanton, David.
- Timmins, Billy.
- Tuffy, Joanna.
- Varadkar, Leo.
- Wall, Jack.
- Walsh, Brian.
- White, Alex.
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Brian Stanley and Martin Ferris; Níl, Deputies Emmet Stagg and Paul Kehoe.
Question declared lost.
The Dáil adjourned at 9.15 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Thursday, 21 June 2012.