Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I do not know whether the Chairman would say I am an experienced politician but I do not think I am a fool, thanks be to God. The Minister of State, however, must think that some of us are. He said amendment No. 64 would cost €162 million, and amendment No. 65 would cost €105 million. That comes to €267 million, I think. I agree with Deputy Burton and others. We saw the economy crash and the trauma that ended in. A big part of that was due to the errant stamp duty and where it went. I thought we had learned a lesson from that but one of the primary pillars in this budget depends on stamp duty. He might get it from the 800,000 sq. ft buildings here, and we welcome that, but where is the Government going to house the people who work in them? That is a crisis facing everybody. I know companies in Dublin that cannot get staff from England and abroad because they cannot afford to live here. One hand does not seem to know what the other is doing.

It is a scandal that amendment No. 68 has been ruled out of order. It proves there is a cabal.

There was an opportunity to level the playing field in terms of a distressed property being sold by financial institutions and vulture funds without being offered first to the borrower or family member at the same price as what is offered to the third party. A 50% land tax could be incurred on that if we wanted it, with all the Paradise Papers and scandals that went on. This was an opportunity to consider it and not rule the amendment out of order because of a charge being imposed on the people. The people my backside. We are trying to protect the people but it seems we are afraid to touch the fat cats. Banks are selling distressed loans at 17% of value in some places, or 20% or perhaps up to 30%. I have been in the Four Courts with unfortunate land owners or, even worse, householders or business people.

A fellow might have had a loan on a machine or tractor but these thugs are putting a tracer on the tractors so they can find out where they are and seize them. They are sold at a distressed price without being offered to the borrower. Many families, business owners and householders offered 70% of the loan value, with accountants backing up the figures and money put together by families, but that was not entertained because the Minister's friends in vulture funds wanted the money. It is murky and dirty business. We should be trying to balance the playing field and ensure there is some semblance of fairness. These people do not get it in the courts, and that is for another day. I am attending the High Court tomorrow with a family from Wexford, the Minister of State's county. Perhaps he should be down there to watch what is going on. It is a decent and well-respected family in County Wexford.

We have been told it will cost money but the Minister of State has no idea what it will cost. These sales will not go through. As clear as the nose on one's face, the auctioneers, solicitors and the hard-pressed young farmer or business person above all, who wants to get the loan for the transaction, will say that he or she cannot afford stamp duty. These people will not know if they are tax compliant. I do not know if there are representatives of the Revenue Commissioners here but we know well they will impose penalties and apply interest no matter what. All we want is a level playing field and we tried that with our amendments.

I welcome the continuity of the fixed rate for a year. I have no interest in the €40,000 mentioned by the Minister of State. They might all be big farmers in Wexford who lease the land. I am talking about keeping family farms alive. What the Minister of State suggests encourages people to go buy a yacht and get €40,000 in tax relief. I am talking about the unfortunate people trying to get the cow herd up, produce our milk and beef and bring about the wonderful exports we have. We need to keep them functioning in the jaws of Brexit and the €40,000 is no good to them. My understanding is that is for the people who want to retire, whether they are young or old.

The Minister of State is not sure of his ground and he is certainly wrong in saying there is not a cabal. There is a very strong and powerful organisation in this country that knew about this the Friday before the budget. It is the same organisation that will not stand to represent the farmers who are being terrorised by the vulture funds in my county and that of the Minister of State, as well as Kilkenny and Waterford. The racing syndicate is a vulture fund. We can welcome what it does and we congratulate Mr. O'Brien last week. It is not about him. We welcome that it is a flagship industry but it is time to stop when it is amassing 15,000, 16,000 or 17,000 acres. Without naming it, we know what organisation it is. It knew about the budget and there is a cabal. It is a dirty, rotten, stinking cabal and the little people do not matter. One would think it would not be so after all that has gone on, especially with the Paradise Papers this week. The Government will not control the banks that are selling the loans of people to the vulture funds. It gives them a clap on the back. I said before it is like rubbing butter on a fat sow's you-know-what. That is what it is like and the Government will not tackle them.

There was an opportunity with these amendments but they have been rejected. Worst of all is the rejection of amendment No. 68, which would have tried to level the playing field. It would have tried to get something from these Oliver Cromwell-type vultures. They are worse than Oliver Cromwell. They are faceless and unaccountable to anybody. They are destroying people's lives. We have seen suicides and marriages breaking up as well as stress, trauma and cancer because of this.

There is a third force and I have been in the Minister of State's county trying to defend farmers, not far from where he lives. People in this third force come in with balaclavas and Alsatians in the middle of the night, beating up people. We know what happened to Mr. Henry, one of the Minister of State's constituents. They beat him and his son, nearly killing them, on the side of the road. There were no charges. To make it worse, a garda who visited the scene two hours later let it go ahead. We went to meet the superintendent and all we got was cheek. How dare we act that way? Shame on the Garda Síochána for allowing that go on. It is a dirty, rotten, stinking cabal and it can be called nothing else. It will continue and the Government promotes the culture. The Minister of State might see the Taoiseach's hashtags and nice pictures but we do not see him standing outside banks with his hashtags and camera. He speaks about people on social welfare as cheats instead. It is time the Government copped on.