Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

In many cases and if they can find a buyer, that property is worth €100,000 less than what they paid. If the home is an apartment or in a mixed development, they may pay €2,000 per year in rip-off charges to a developer under the masquerade of a management company because the Government has repeatedly refused to accept this side's calls for the regulation of property management companies. If the home is in some of the housing estates sprawling around our cities, it may have been left unfinished by a builder who, like many others, has fled.

The hard-working man and woman may live 20 miles or 30 miles from work, for which reason they will need to pay much travel money. After paying petrol costs of €1.30 per litre, they may need to pay €25 or €30 in tolls on the M50 or this city's other approach roads. As they sit in the worst traffic congestion in Europe, they have plenty of time to reflect on and worry about the security of their jobs or the future of their businesses. On their car radios, they listen to stories such as those we heard last week of the good high-level jobs being lost at Dell in Loughlinstown in my constituency at what is supposed to be the top end of the information economy. That causes them worry about whether they will have employment or how well their business will succeed in the future. No doubt the newly elected Taoiseach will tell us that he has cut their taxes. He cut the top rate but we should look at all the additional taxes and charges that have been heaped on the hardworking men and women of this country. In 1997, when Fianna Fáil returned to power, waste collection was a public service. Today it is commercialised and, in most parts of the country, run by private businesses. Families are now paying between €300 and €500 per year simply to have their bins collected.

The hardworking man and the hardworking woman are paying nearly €2,000 per year after tax for plan B health insurance to cover themselves and their two children. If they bring their sick child to the accident and emergency unit, they will pay €66 for hospital admission, a charge that has more than doubled since 2002. If they have to purchase medicine for the child, the limit on the drugs refund scheme has increased from €53 to €90. When their children begin their education, they must pay or collect money for the school's running costs because the promise made by this Government at the last election to double capitation fees in primary schools has not been delivered. If they have an elderly parent, they must wonder where they will get the money to pay for nursing home charges and care, again because the legislation providing for a new regime on nursing charges, which we were promised on numerous occasions, has not been delivered. It does not end there. Supermarket prices have increased significantly on last year's figures. The price of a loaf of bread is 20% higher than this time last year, a litre of milk has increased by 30% and a kilo of flour is 40% more expensive.

How, then, are the hardworking man and the hardworking woman? They are under pressure from the increased cost of living and they are worried about their future employment and incomes. It will be cold comfort to families who are coming under financial pressure to suggest this is the fault of the Government and that they should wait three and a half years until the next general election before passing their verdict. I agree with Deputy Kenny that one of the actions the Government can take is to forego the huge salary increases it decided to pay Ministers earlier this year. The €38,000 increase for the Taoiseach is more than the incomes of 1.5 million taxpayers.

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