Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Revenue Commissioners are doing their very best on every level in respect of completeness, correctness, timeliness, customer service and so on. I acknowledge that and I would like to be associated with Deputies Higgins, Boyd Barrett and Fleming to the extent that there are administrative matters. They are right. It is a shocking shame that €50 billion of losses have been put on the shoulders of the people, and €50 billion at 3% is €1.5 billion. That is three years' worth of local property tax. I am embarrassed that our Government has not got €50 billion worth of a creditor buy-in from the euro system. That is still possible, and I am using every possible forum to say so. I recommend to everybody to read The Price of Inequality by Joseph Stiglitz. It is only five weeks old but it is already out in paperback. Please do not laugh. The book is instructive and is highly readable. It will tell us how to make a better society in Ireland.