Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. As Senator Crown said this tax is daft and nuts; I concur with him. Senator Mark Daly is a professional in the area of valuation and he has put it very crisply.

Fianna Fáil is totally opposed to the introduction of a deeply unfair property tax. The Government's proposals for a property tax will hit struggling home owners at a time when they can least afford it. Now is simply not the time to inflict a property tax on a struggling economy, a weak housing market and home owners working to make ends meet. Not only can people not afford the tax, but the tax will only suffocate further a property market that is on its knees, reduce domestic spending and damage the economy. Elderly people living in properties they worked hard to own and in which to raise a family are being driven out of that same home by an onerous tax. The domestic economy is in a fragile state. The most recent Irish League of Credit Unions survey indicates that half of all adults are struggling to pay their bills on time. Some 42% of consumers have had to borrow money to pay bills in the past 12 months and only three out of ten are able to save any money at the end of the month.

I believe Fianna Fáil made a serious mistake in 1977 in its controversial budget when it removed rates on houses. It was a crazy decision as local authorities need money to provide services. The problem is that the people are not confident that the money will be put into the local authority and utilised properly. Fianna Fáil was remiss in not introducing a water charge. I do not have a problem with privatising the water service.

There is something seriously wrong with the Fine Gael culture of not touching income tax. I do not understand it.