Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

Before dealing with the Bill, I take the opportunity to pay tribute to a member of Cork County Council who passed away last week. Councillor Michael Donegan was a great friend of mine and a councillor of great experience having served in local government since 1978. It would be remiss of me when speaking on local government reform and the household charge not to mention him and to send our sympathies to his family and to all his friends and supporters in Milford.

We are in agreement with the principle of the Bill but we must ensure that vulnerable households, low income households, are exempted from this charge. We have been listening to history lessons from some of the speakers opposite about the abolition of rates in 1977. It might interest them to know that between 1973 and 1977, 75% of the rates were abolished by the then Labour-Fine Gael Government. Those parties promised, if elected, they would do away with the remaining 25%.

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