Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am opposed to this section, and I raised the following point on Second Stage. In section 79 the new subsection (2A)(a) to be inserted refers to someone who comes forward and says he or she has been involved in a tax avoidance transaction, and as a result of doing that before 30 June 2015, the surcharge under existing legislation would not apply and the interest that person would have to pay would be reduced by 20%. That is wrong. These people have been involved in tax avoidance transactions. Today, the Government announced that people who cannot afford to pay water charges will be hit for an extra €60. These people were deliberately involved in tax avoidance transactions and the surcharge that is in the law is not applied and their interest rate is reduced by 20%. That smacks of hypocrisy.

I know we will not see eye to eye on this. I have said before that there are two ways of introducing a scheme like this. One is to say come quietly into the fold with your hands up and we will treat you kindly with kid gloves, the other is to say if you do not come before us by 30 June we will ramp up the interest fees and surcharges. At a time when the Government will chase people to their graves and beyond for water charges by charging on their properties, is it appropriate that people who were deliberately involved in tax avoidance should be treated in this way? This is kid gloves stuff.