Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that the point I made may be a difficult one for the Minister, Deputy Naughten, to deal with. However, if someone has a caravan in Wexford, it is unfair to say he or she must buy two licences. One does not say to somebody who goes to a hotel room and turns on the television that he or she must pay €150 for the privilege over the fortnight or month he or she is staying there. I know the hotel pays a licence fee, but it does not hit the individual in anything like the same way. I ask the Minister and perhaps the committee to consider whether a person who pays the licence fee should get the benefit of a reduced rate for a caravan or secondary home. It seems to me that the Minister is trying to get the people who are not paying at all. I am talking about the people who are paying and who are being asked to pay on the double when there are people who are not paying at all.