Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

The amount a person has to pay on his or her motor tax is far more than the €4 a week reduction of which the Minister is so proud. The real issue for the Minister is that tax in this area has doubled in the past seven years, and spending has doubled to match, but what frustrates many people is that they do not see the delivery in the health service and the quality of footpaths, roads or public transport. There is a serious issue in that there are soft targets in the Minister's tax approach and he is not delivering value for money. People are getting frustrated with that combination, as frustrated as the Minister's predecessor who must have thought there was a boiler in the Custom House burning money it was absorbing so much.

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