Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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As a public servant, does Mr. Fraser see what we see? There is a huge disequilibrium. In his opening statement he cites the passing of the property tax legislation as one of the Department's achievements. It is mentioned in one of the Department's documents on the implementation of the programme for Government. Mr. Fraser has also said the Department is committed to building "a fairer society". That is one of its key issues. The property tax is causing huge grief for hundreds of thousands of households that have already been massively hit and simply cannot afford it. If they pay it, it will impose a massive burden on them. I will not, however, get into the ongoing battle against it. It has been introduced as a direct result of the crash of financial services that led to the crash in the real economy. The people are paying for this, but the players who were centrally involved in causing the crash have unprecedented access to the Government. The taxpayer has no such access. As a public servant, does Mr. Fraser agree that this is an unfair disequilibrium in a supposedly democratic society?