Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)

Tá sé do-chreidte go bhfuil a leithéid de Bhille os comhair na Dála inniu. Tá sé dochreidte go bhfuil Rialtas atá déanta suas de Fhine Gael agus Páirtí an Lucht Oibre ag gearradh cánach ar dhaoine nach bhfuil an t-airgead acu leis an cháin seo a íoc.

Chuala mé go leor daoine atá ag tabhairt tacaíochta don Rialtas ag rá, taobh istigh den Teach agus taobh amuigh, nach bhfuil ann ach €100 agus gurb ionann sin agus €2 sa tseachtain. Deirim leis na daoine sin nach dtuigeann siad a bhfuil go leor des na gnáth daoine ag dul tríd lá i ndiaidh lae. Níl a fhios acu na deacrachtaí atá ag daoine éadaí a chur ar a gcuid páistí nó bia a chur ar an tábla. Nach bhfeiceann siad na fíricí atá ag tarlú i ngach baile, i ngach sráidbhaile agus i ngach paróiste ar fud an Stáit seo?

Feicfimid an Bille seo ag gearradh cánach ar thithe, gan aird ar bith ar an ioncam atá ag teacht isteach go dtí an teach sin. Tá an Bille seo ag teacht isteach ag an am chéanna agus atá Billí eile ag teacht isteach. Luaigh an Teachta Martin Ferris an Bille a ghearrfaidh cánach ar thithe i gceantair tuaithe ina bhfuil scéimeanna séarachais acu. Gearrfar €50 agus fíneál suas go €500, agus b'fhéidir suas go dtí €17,000 má tá ar dhaoine bail a chur ar an scéim séarachais sin.

Tiocfaidh na Billí seo isteach agus tá a fhios againn go bhfuil Billí eile le teacht anuas an bealach mór. Sa bhliain 2013, táimid ag dul a fheiceáil Bille uisce a chuirfidh níos mó fiacha ar ghnáth dhaoine. Tá seo ag tarlú ag an am chéana is atá an Rialtas ag gearradh seirbhísí agus ag gearradh na tacaíochta a tugtar do dhaoine atá i dtrioblóid, ó thaobh laghdú ins na híocaíochtaí leasú shoisialta agus a leithéid.

Tá go leor daoine sa Rialtas, idir Airí agus Airí Stáit, a bhfuil léann acu agus a chuaigh chun na scoile. Tá cuid acu a fuair oideachas ar an tríú leibhéal agus a bhain céimeanna agus árd-chéimeanna amach, ach nach dtuigeann nach féidir airgead a bhaint as daoine nuair nach bhfuil an t-airgead sin acu. Ní misde dintiúr nó PhD a chrochadh ar an bhalla. Caithfidh go bhfuil a fhios seo ag na daoine sin. Buaileann siad leis na daoine céanna agus a bhuaileann mise leo. Faigheann siad na ríomhphoist, na scairt gutháin agus na scarbhileoga céanna agus a fhaighimse agus feiceann siad go bhfuil sé indéanta níos mó airgid a bhaint de dhaoine.

Níl mise in éadan níos mó cánach a bhaint as daoine gur feidir leo an cháin sin a íoc. Tá sin curtha chun tosaigh ag Páirtí Shinn Féin ins an cháipéis a chuireamar chuig an Rialtas roimh an cháinaisnéis. Seo an fhadhb atá ann. Iarraim ar an Aire insint dúinn go soléir cén dóigh ina bhfuil an cháin seo féaráilte. Is é an rud atá Sinn Féin ag iarradh a bhaint amach ná go ngearrfar cáin ar na daoine atá in ann breis cánach a íoc sa dóigh is gur féidir linn an difir idir an teacht isteach agus an chaiteachas a laghdú, ach táimid ag iarraidh sin a dhéanamh i ndóigh atá féaráilte agus a chuidíonn leis an eacnamaíocht áitiúil agus leis an bpobal.

Ní seo ceann des na dóigheanna seo. Ní dhéanann an cháin seo idirdhealú ar bith idir an bodach mór a bhfuil pá mór aige agus atá ina shuí i dteach breá agus tréan ioncam aige, agus an duine a bheidh ag siúl isteach chuig doras Chumann Naomh Uinseann de Pól ag an deireadh seachtain seo ag cuartú airgid fá choinne bia nó fá choinne broslach sa dóigh is go mbeidh teach tirim agus te aige.

It is absolutely amazing - that may be too strong a word given what we have seen the Government is capable of - that the Government is introducing such a Bill. It is calling the charge property tax but it is more like a poverty tax. It is a tax that impacts on 1.6 million households throughout the State without taking into account that many of those households are living in poverty. It ignores the fact that many families have in recent days, as the cold weather set in, had to go to supermarkets and petrol stations to purchase home heating oil in gallon or five-gallon drums. It does not acknowledge that more people than ever are seeking assistance from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul or visiting charity shops in search of a small bargain to provide for their children at this special time of year. It ignores the fact that many people will go without because they cannot afford to pay the charge.

I do not claim any monopoly on wisdom or compassion, but people have come to me - as I am sure they have come to other Members - and produced, in table format, a statement of their income and expenditure. There is nothing more to give. It is simply a matter of feeding themselves, keeping their home warm and paying the mortgage. For many, it is about staying above the parapet or threshold below which they will begin to suffocate. Yet this Bill proposes that regardless of how difficult one's personal circumstances, one must give more. The wealthiest person in the State, living in a mansion without a care in the world, will pay the same €100 as the person in deep economic distress. We have all read the letter in the national newspapers from the person who had nothing to feed his children but cereal. People like that will face the same obligation as the wealthiest people in the land. There is nothing fair about it.

As Sinn Féin's spokesman on finance, I have presented he Government with a range of options which would secure the deficit reduction target the Government has set for itself under the EU-IMF programme. We are not opposed to asking those who can afford to pay more tax to do so. However, we are opposed to an entirely unfair flat-rate tax which impacts most strongly on those who are most needy. All of the other Ministers and Government Deputies who, excepting the Minister of State, Deputy Ciarán Cannon, did not bother to attend the Chamber for this debate should hang their heads in shame. Have they no understanding of what people are enduring? I am sure it is not just in Donegal South-West that one sees houses where Corn Flakes packages are stuffed in door jambs or cardboard boxes placed under the window sills in children's bedrooms in an effort to keep out the draft. Such measures are necessary because of the cuts in supports imposed by the previous Government. Grants are no longer available from local authorities to assist people in replacing their windows and doors.

This Government is continuing along the same line. In this instance, it is asking large numbers of people to pay a charge they simply cannot afford. There is a moral question as to whether they should be asked to pay it in the first instance given that this money will not be used to assist the most disadvantaged people in the State but rather to assist people with no disadvantage in other states. On 25 January 2012, unguaranteed, unsecured bondholders in Anglo Irish Bank will be paid €1.25 billion. That one cheque, on that one day, would pay the household charge for 1.6 million households for the next ten years.

It is all about choices. The Government cannot blame the EU-IMF for having to introduce this legislation. I have listened to Fianna Fáil Party Members jumping up and down and getting hot under the collar about the household charge. We all know that if they were still on the other side of the House they would introduce the exact same legislation, because there is no difference between the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties. Nor it seems is there any difference between either of them and the Labour Party. The reality is that there is no requirement from the EU and IMF to introduce this charge. My party has met with representatives of the troika and what they are interested in is the headline figure. They want to see the deficit reduced by the specified amount. It matters nothing to them whether the Government takes €160 million in the form of a household charge or from some other area.

If the Government wishes to tax property, it should look to the legacy property reliefs still in existence. These are the allowances which fuelled the Celtic tiger, made many people millionaires and lumped the ensuing debts on our shoulders. The abolition of these reliefs would bring in twice as much as will be brought in through the proposed household charge.

I was listening to a programme on my local radio station, Highland Radio, in the car earlier today in which callers stated their intent not to pay the charge. I applaud anybody who cannot afford to pay it who refuses to do so. People should not have to make a choice between meeting this regressive charge and feeding their children, putting clothes on their backs or heating their homes. They are doing the right thing in refusing to pay if they cannot afford to do so.

I was particularly struck by one caller, a man of 87 years of age with a fantastic voice that was full of compassion. This individual is disabled and confined full-time to a chair, and he is genuinely worried about this charge and about his ability to pay it. The presenter, Shaun Doherty, who is also a very compassionate person, sought to reassure the man that he would surely be exempt on the basis that he is in receipt of disability allowance and so on. The reality, however, is that this person is not exempt. That 87 year old should not be worrying about what the Government is proposing in this Chamber tonight. I do not know what this man's life was like, but it is not right that the Government should impose this burden and worry on him. People like him are being levied under this unfair tax despite the many options available to the Government to do otherwise. Shame on it for its unwillingness to take any of those options.

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