John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The lack of foresight in policymakers concerns me. That is not within the Department but rather within local authorities and the so-called harmonisation of rates. There is not much harmony in the case of Government and business people, so it is probably a bad word. Is it not the case that when the legislation was being drafted to harmonise the rate for Dungarvan, for example, with a county rate, somebody would have had the foresight to look to spread this over ten years? However, with the Valuation Office and the spike that people may have to suffer, no foresight was given with regard to spreading it over a period. Is that a massive inconsistency in policy?