Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

That was very fair.

The Government also had a choice in respect of rent allowance. Just as much money could have been saved by making the landlord take 100% of this cut. Instead, the Government has made the financially weak bear equal pain. Rents in rural Ireland are being kept artificially high because of rent allowance and this issue must be tackled. In another version of this phenomenon, namely, the rental accommodation scheme, or as I like to call it, the rental accommodation scam, some landlords in Roscommon are in receipt of double the current market value. The Government should tackle this issue before hitting the poor and vulnerable.

The Government also had choices in respect of health. For example, it could have hit consultants' pay. A maximum cap on consultants' pay of €150,000 would release €100 million to the Exchequer. The Government could have taken €7 million out of that €100 million, instead of taking it from young people with disabilities. I apologise: the Government now has changed its mind about that proposal. However, the problem is that it changed its mind because it got bad publicity about it and not because it cares tuppence about someone with a disability. If it did, it would not have proposed this measure in the first place.

I have called for the legalisation of cannabis and will continue to so do. This is not very popular but just because I hear it is not popular does not mean I will change my mind. Moreover, the research department has done some investigation on that issue for me and has estimated the legalisation of cannabis would be worth approximately €470 million to the economy. Would that not be better than hitting the poor?

As for education, the Government had a choice, particularly with regard to third level education. It had a choice of hitting the lecturers, who yet again are in receipt of exorbitant pay, or the families who already are in a living hell when trying to pay the bills. The Government chose to hit families with an additional charge of €250. Why did the socialists not hit the well-paid lecturers? I cannot work it out and do not know the reason.

As for road tax, I believe car tax should be scrapped altogether. I do not suggest this should be done in the same way that Jack Lynch got rid of certain taxes. He even induced my mother, a sworn Fine Gaeler, to vote for him.

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