Ms Michelle Murphy:

The issue we have is that there has been "inertia", for want of a better word, in terms of dealing with the problem. As Deputies Durkan and Coppinger have pointed out, there are reserves and funding that should be used for this purpose because we have a crisis. In general, when we discuss revenue raising, we have an issue as to what our reserves should be used for. Public and social infrastructure are funded by revenue and there is a case to be made in the long run for increasing our tax take. We need a stable and broad tax base if we are to continue to fund all of our public services.