Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for my late arrival. I thank the Minister and his officials for doing the really awful job that is trying to repair the leaky ship of the Irish economy while it is still in motion. I know that it is not an easy job. However, I also know that when one is trying to enact finance legislation to allow one to collect and spend money for a year, one's difficulties are compounded by the amount of old and inappropriate bandages, sticking plasters and braces to be found about the patient's body. As Deputy Pearse Doherty pointed out, there is an entirely new cohort of approximately 150,000 families which are under shocking financial strain.

Around 60,000 people have had their gas meters changed to coin meters, with 36% of those being cut off because they cannot meet the expense. The pain is increasing. We are in panic mode, trying to find streams of revenue while we make difficult adjustments to a ship in motion. As a national Parliament, we should make a commitment that next year we will look at the fundamental engineering of our spending and our revenues. We should tell the people what we are doing. I am making these points in a constructive way and not as a whinge. The property tax will have to paid out of incomes, no matter what one calls it. If people do not have incomes then they have a very big problem, which means that the Government and the Parliament will have a problem. We will need to think deeply and slowly about these matters and now is the time-----