Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Minister of State did not rebut the point. Average property sale prices in Meath East in 2012, according to propertypriceregister.ie puts Dunboyne in the top 13% nationwide. The same applies to Ratoath, Ashbourne and Stamullen, which are in the top 20% nationally. I have used the same figures as the Government from the residential property price register, the Thornhill report and the ESRI report. Those people are among the most heavily indebted in the country in terms of mortgages. Many paid significant amounts of stamp duty. They do not receive the services from local authorities they got in Dublin, if they used to live there, or the services they might get in an urban district council area. I refer to street cleaning or the council cutting grass in estates. Many feel they get no services at all. The average homeowner in Dunboyne or Ratoath will pay just under ¤500 a year in property tax. That is blatant unfairness when similar properties in Longford and Roscommon will pay one fifth of that sum. The Minister is overestimating the capacity of middle Ireland to take any more of the property tax. It is being rammed through the Dáil and Seanad without any consideration of how it will affect people. People will not pay the tax if they are not getting the services for it. They will not pay the tax if they are paying five times more than a similar property in a different county. It is simply unfair.

At least a site value tax, which Fianna Fáil signed up to but which we think is inappropriate in the current economic circumstances, is a different tax. Owners of zoned residential land, of which there is plenty in County Meath, would be liable for a site value tax but they are exempt from the property tax. There is nothing for homeowners struggling under the weight of heavy mortgages. A property tax is fair if it is a wealth tax but this is not a wealth tax because most of the people are in negative wealth. The value of their loan is higher than the value of their property. It is unfair and the Government is underestimating these people's resistance and their capacity to protest. They will have the capacity to protest when the bills start coming through. This is middle Ireland and they cannot take any more.