Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)

That is great. One can do an awful lot of damage in a couple of minutes.

The windfall tax was mentioned. What does the word "windfall" denote? It is like manna falling from heaven in respect of which there is no penalty; it is all gain and no pain. It will be great fun to witness the impact of this at local level. The theory is that this will restrict development at local level. We have been told there has been too much development. Another theory is that we should demolish many of the dwellings built because there are too many of them, which is sound economic thinking. If we keep going as we are there will be fewer people in this country in employment carrying a bigger burden of tax resulting in a constriction of the economy. This is not the first time this has happened; we seen it all before in the 1980s. Sadly, we are going down the same road once again. The Government has learned nothing from the past 20 years. I do not expect it will learning anything between now and the next time the electorate goes to meet them at the polls.

My final point relates to the high level of mortgage interest arrears in this country. During the debate on NAMA, Members on this side of the House asked that something be done to address the issue of mortgage interest arrears. So far, nothing has been done. While a moratorium in respect of house repossessions has been introduced, there is no moratorium on the interest that is clocking up and the arrears being racked up on a daily basis.

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