John Crown (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would make the point to anybody who would have the temerity to interrupt me in my crankiness this evening that we are also the only country in Europe that charges people 9% and makes them borrow money to pay a tax to buy the house in the first place. I know of no other country that does that but we will come back to that issue another time.

Of all the assets somebody could have, the only one that actually costs them money, and which currently is not an asset but in many cases is a liability and a millstone around their neck that may prevent them moving job, location and educating, feeding and clothing their children and something they feel their entire life is in hock to, is the typical negative equity mortgage that many Irish people were hoodwinked into taking out because the priest class of mortgage advisers, bank officials and bank managers that we had always been taught were steady, solid individuals who had our best interests at heart and would look after our fiduciary interests were on short-term bonuses in an attempt to get us to make unwise investments. That is the position in which many people find themselves. Of all of those assets, the one that we decide to tax is the one that is costing people money. What we are talking about is not a wealth tax or an asset tax. For most people it is a liability tax, it is a debt tax. The logic of taxing somebody's negative equity mortgage is about the same as the logic of taxing their credit card debt. It is insane.

We know that the money raised from this will not go to local government utilities. Somebody asked me if it would go to Dún Laoghaire. It is going to Dusseldorf. We know where it is going, and it is not to Dún Laoghaire. It does not make sense for people to want to pin a regular, reasonable consumption charge on the local services that people consume, call it a service charge and tax them regardless of whether they own their house.

I will conclude by showing the Minister of State that I am not such a bad guy after all and make him an offer.