Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)

I wish to share my time with Deputies Ferris and Doherty. I have to follow that Tipperary performance.

The first thing about this Bill is that it is coming hot on the heels of the budget, which was described to me by constituents last week as being the worst kind of Christmas present they could have received. People are facing into difficult circumstances, with a plethora of costs and budget cuts. The liability date for this new charge is 1 January - the new year. If the budget was a bad Christmas present, this will really be a disappointing new year for people.

To introduce a Bill of this nature and force it through by tomorrow is clearly undemocratic. The Bill would more appropriately be entitled the bank bailout Bill, as it has little to do with raising finance for local authorities and more to do with bailing out banks and unguaranteed bondholders, as I will explain in a minute.

To put it in perspective, the Government has slashed the Local Government Fund by a massive 84% and expects the public to come up with €160 million to fund services at local government level. This makes no economic sense. It is both political and economic piracy. This cut will bankrupt local authorities. Councils are struggling to fund services. In recent years, councils, under pressure from the commercial sector, have had to reduce commercial rates, and this has naturally had a negative effect on the funds raised. Here in Dublin, the largest local authority in the country has been forced to sell off its waste collection services. This is despite the lack of proper national legislation to regulate the industry and protect the public from unscrupulous waste collection companies. The sale was carried out by Dublin City Council to raise funds to allow it to keep functioning. This unilateral decision was made by the management despite the democratic wishes of the elected councillors. In fact, on three separate occasions, a majority of Dublin city councillors supported a Sinn Féin motion opposing the sell-off of this essential service. It is ironic that although this motion received support from Labour Party councillors at Dublin City Council, here in the House, the Labour Party in Government is involved in an unprecedented attack on local government.

We in Sinn Féin believe in local government despite its many shortcomings. We believe it should be improved and that it should be strong, democratic and accountable. Local government is strengthened when it has sufficient funds and its councillors can make real decisions and are held accountable by the public for the decisions they make. This Bill achieves none of that. In fact, it fails to deal with the democratic deficit in local government. If it is passed, it will make local government financially weaker and undermine our overstretched public services.

We also believe that cutbacks need to be made. We know savings must be made, but this Bill takes the age-old lazy option of introducing a regressive flat tax on households. Thatcher called it the poll tax. If we are to address the waste, let us start at the top and make those who can afford it pay the costs. A quick look at the pay scales of city and county managers would clearly highlight where the real cuts should be made to local government. Top of the league is the Dublin city manager on €189,000, followed by the Cork county manager, Fingal county manager and south Dublin county manager on €162,000 each. Not far behind are the managers of Cork city and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown on €154,000 and the Limerick city manager on €142,000, while the Waterford and Galway managers can expect to earn €132,000. All of these managers will be paying the same household charge as somebody on the new disability allowance following the cut last week.

The Bill is a desperate attempt by the Government to shift money from local government into the banks. Local government must be financed by a progressive taxation and rates system. We have argued for changes in the rates system to provide for an income based clause for businesses. The Bill exposes the myth that we live in a low tax economy, which has been promoted for years by consecutive Governments. This mantra is used every time charges are introduced for health care, education and public services, including water and bin charges. Various Government Ministers and their allies have told us over the years that to keep taxes down, it is necessary to pay more. That is a contradiction. Again, in the recent budget the Fine Gael Party and Labour Party Government said it must keep taxes down so it was necessary to get the public to pay for services that have already been paid for in those taxes.

The public that is being asked to pay €100 to local government will be paying the same amount of income tax next month as it paid this month. There is no reduction in taxes, just more hard earned money being spent on essential services. Of course, the rank hypocrisy does not stop there. When one studies the detail of the Bill, it is clear from section 2 that a person who has a bedsit behind their house, for example, a granny flat, will pay the same rate as somebody living in a €5 million mansion. Where is the sense or the justice in that, unless one is sitting on the Government benches and wants somebody who owns a bedsit to pay the same for local government services? Sinn Féin proposed a wealth tax in its budget proposals. In regard to residential properties, this would only apply to houses worth more than €1.2 million. That is fairer.

The Minister has claimed this is a temporary measure until the Government can introduce a more progressive property tax. We would welcome a real debate about funding for local government based on progressive politics. However, there is no provision in the Bill for a temporary charge or a commitment that it is being introduced on a temporary basis. That will be our first proposed amendment to the Bill. We want a commitment in black and white that this Bill will be temporary. The sooner the Bill is history, the better.

There is no attempt to conceal the Government's contempt for ordinary people. Nowhere in the Bill is there a waiver for people on social welfare. A list of waivers was quoted by the Minister in his speech but it did not address any of the issues. Last Tuesday, this heartless Government cut €88 from the disability allowance for young people and reduced the fuel allowance for everybody, including the elderly. This week the Government is asking people to pay up another €100 for local services. The Bill will criminalise people for not being able to pay. It states that where a person is convicted of an offence under the Bill, the court shall order the person to pay the relevant costs and expenses, measured by the court, incurred by the relevant local authority. In other words, the person who cannot afford the household charge will be brought to court and if found guilty will have to pay the court costs of the local council that brought them to court. There is also provision for fines of up to €2,500.

Normally in this country, a person's debts die when they die. They do not bring their debts with them in the coffin. Under this Bill, people will be followed to the grave and after that their estate will be pursued for this. It is outrageous that the Minister is chasing people to the graveyards for it.

Every provision in the Bill attempts to punish ordinary people for mistakes that were not of their making. The charge is being introduced in the same week the Government tried to force through the water services Bill. I only heard two hours ago the Minister's announcement that he will hold back on the septic tank Bill until after Christmas. Under that Bill, householders are being asked yet again to bail out the Government for the sins of consecutive Governments. Town halls throughout the country have been filled with ordinary people voicing their objections to the septic tank Bill, including last Friday night in Kerry. Now these people are being hit with a household charge as well.

See this speech in context