Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

One must be reasonable. Deputy Morgan said we may not necessarily get agreement from all sides of the House when it comes to the issues we are discussing here in an amalgamation of all the financial resolutions. This is correct. I would normally concur with Deputy Varadkar's views on capital gains. A tax on capital would be the preferred option in normal circumstances, but unfortunately we are not in normal circumstances as we have had to deal with major difficulties in our public finances. However, I accept his view that increasing CGT and CAT is the right thing to do. It is a question of widening the tax base.

Deputy Gilmore raised the issue of property tax. The Minister for Finance indicated that it is intended to examine the introduction of such a tax. That has not been finalised by the Government but the Commission on Taxation will put forward its views in the autumn and we will work through how best it can be implemented.

I have been in this House many years and have listened on many occasions to Deputy Higgins speak about issues to which he clearly has an emotional attachment, particularly in regard to foreign policy and aid. He and I may not be in agreement in terms of our views on various aspects of social policy, but I appreciate his views. However, it is slightly disingenuous to talk about the Nordic model of social policy. In places such as Sweden, although one can spend a great deal of money in providing social services on the back of extreme wealth, diversity is the way in which any culture or any family can make decisions. Having a situation where one can determine by diktat how people are reared or how they live is not necessarily a good social policy.

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