Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is about choices but ultimately we have gone down this road. The ordinary people who have to pay these taxes are seeing a hike of almost 20%, and in some cases, much more. Cars were to cost less but some have now increased in price by up to 30%, which is a massive increase. The Government is trying to justify that to the people when it is going to take €150 million from what is collected, which should go directly for local provision. There are major problems in councils and local authorities. It is not merely a case of the choices local authorities have to make, whether this or that pothole will not be fixed. That is the other choice we have here. I do not for one minute underestimate the problem in our economy but I believe there are other ways of raising these funds.