I will not delay the House but I wish to follow the same trend as Deputy Murphy. The increase of £10 will not put many of us in the workhouse and I would not take any exception to the amount were it not for the principle involved. In 1977 we had all the gimmicks Fianna Fáil could think of; nothing was too much so long as it collected votes. This was one of the things that got Fianna Fáil votes. It was not so much from the people who were taxing their cars but from those who were not taxing their cars because they could not afford to do so. Every time they took out their cars and saw a garda their heart was in their mouth but suddenly Fianna Fáil came along with the novel idea of removing car tax and they were, in the modern word, "legit". They were then decent citizens, they could take out their old banger and drive it along knowing they were not breaking the law. I am not sure that in the research carried out by the Fianna Fáil think-tank they did not look at this side of the question, that it was not in any way to alleviate the difficulties of tax on cars but to catch the people who were not taxing their cars. I wonder what trust they will have now in the present Government?
As I say, £10 will not rob us. For any person who is driving a car and can pay almost £2 a gallon for petrol — and it is approaching that figure — and anyone who burns 10 gallons of petrol a week, spending £20 per week — and most of us burn a lot more than that — a car registration fee of £20 is not so heavy a tax. However, it is the principle of the whole thing which is important.
By a trick, the Fianna Fáil Party were able to add this into their manifesto of 1977, to gather votes. The Taoiseach will look for money before the general election — and one would wonder when we are going to have a general election; the sooner the better — and will he be thinking, immediately after the general election if he is successful, of restoring the rates on houses? After all, there are only about two or three of the promises made in the manifesto still unbroken, so the whole thing might as well be scrapped.
The Taoiseach has told us regarding the tax on drink that people do not need to drink, they have a choice not to pay the tax and also that they can cut down on petrol. However, if they own a car, they will have to pay £10 extra. I add my voice to those of Deputies Fitzpatrick and Murphy in saying that this is a breach of faith on the part of the Fianna Fáil Government.
Might I conclude by saying that, when the Fianna Fáil Government came into office in 1977, I remember speaking to a few friends on the other side of the Border in a different context altogether and they said that if the Fianna Fáil Party could deliver all the things in their manifesto, a united Ireland would be no problem. If they could do without rates on houses and taxes on cars and produce all the other things promised, well that was the part of Ireland to be living in. It looked like that at the time, but these people must be very disillusioned now.
If this is the appreciation that the Taoiseach has of promises made in the last general election, then there is no appreciation of anything else. Promises are worthless.