Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

The truth about this year's Finance Bill is that it shows that the way we debate tax measures in this House is hopelessly inadequate. Of the 122 sections in the Finance Bill presented to the Dáil, 67 have not been debated in any way. Contained in these are some of the most important provisions, such as the power to investigate people's bank accounts and provide information to the Revenue Commissioners, the power to end remittance tax, the extension of tax relief for private hospitals, the new incentives for SSIAs and other measures. In addition, the Minister introduced 79 amendments on Committee Stage and 66% of those were not debated. We will have a debate on Report Stage with 141 amendments, most of them in the name of the Minister and most of which we will never reach.

What I find extremely frustrating is that, while there are many people outside the House who have views on the sections that were not reached, and I have sought to reflect some of those views in Report Stage amendments, because those amendments were not accepted — the Ceann Comhairle has disallowed them, as is his right — we will not be able to raise issues of concern that have emerged in the course of the debate, issues that were not reached in the committee. That is no way to develop and scrutinise a tax code that will have significant implications for the 1.2 million people who pay tax. This guillotine and the process that has preceded it does not allow us to do our duty to scrutinise legislation and we are failing the people who elected us. We need to develop a better system than this charade that is being played out.

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