Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I want to push this to a vote because the Government is making a mistake on it. The Bill is not dealing with our problem. There should be some exemption and the officials should be able to get some exemption on heritage sites. It was part of an area plan, and the people there believe that they should be exempt. The only thing creating the problem is this aspect of the Bill. Even if the Bill has to go back to the Seanad, I ask the officials to look at this to try to exempt places like this. The tax was set up for developers and not for heritage sites.

This is a heritage site and a fabulous house. The town council, the county council and the people of Westport and Mayo have been looking for this development for 20 years. Now that we have got Lord Altamont and the Browne family to agree, they have worked with the council, the county planners and the town planners, and they have borrowed substantial money to bring this to the best standard possible. Is there anything that could be done to allow this exemption? It is wrong to penalise this development, and the money they have borrowed for the plan will instead be spent the windfall tax.

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