Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)

I find it extraordinary that we should have such a blunt instrument in increasing VAT across the board in the manner proposed on the basis that this will add to inflation in 2009. Is this factored into the Government's computations? It is unfortunate that the Celtic tiger years did not treat the taxpayer or hard-pressed families any more favourably than to see VAT stay in its current form for the past number of years. The highest it has ever been in the history of the State was 23%. During the past number of years we heard from the Government benches about the success, the celebrations and the corking of the champagne bottles. Now, VAT is on the rise again after a long number of years. It is particularly regrettable that goods and services which are so important for families will be hit in this way.

The 8 cent increase in the price of a litre of petrol will have serious consequences, particularly for people commuting to Dublin. People in my constituency bought into the developer's dream of moving down the country to purchase an affordable house while holding on to their jobs in Dublin. These people will now fork out €100 per tank of petrol to get them to work or college. Their houses on the outskirts of every town and village within a couple hours of Dublin are in negative equity, their jobs are on the line and the response of the Government is to burden them with further increases, in particular a cost on commuting to work.

They have no choice given the absence of an alternative quality public transport. The trains which pass up and down through my constituency are invariably late, overcrowded and utterly unreliable. People have been forced back into their cars and are now faced with car parking charges, be they parking at the station at home or in Dublin. The applause given to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, by his colleagues on the Fianna Fáil benches, the Green Party and the remaining Progressive Democrat will come back to haunt them in the not too distant future.

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