Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)

I will share time with Deputy Robert Dowds and Deputy Eamon Maloney.

The biggest challenge this Government faces is getting the public finances in order. That is the legacy of the economic mess in which the Fianna Fáil Party left this country. Fianna Fáil signed the deal that has led us to this day. It agreed the terms and conditions which resulted in us introducing this charge.

Last night, some of the Fianna Fáil Party Deputies asserted that we could put the introduction of this charge on the long finger because the new Government has lengthened, until 2015, the time in which we must reduce our deficit to 3% of GDP. One Fianna Fáil Party Deputy's idea was that we could delay its introduction and deal with the issue of financing local government at another time. That is just more of the same from the Fianna Fáil Party, putting things off. It postponed the introduction of the septic tank charges in the same way. The attitude is to put off until tomorrow what one should really do today. Long-fingering the hard decisions was its policy and it is one of the main reasons the country is in the current mess, where it must borrow to pay the teachers, doctors and nurses. We are getting our country back on track and back to work, but to do that we must make some tough, hard decisions. We are trying to do it in a way that is as fair and progressive as possible. We will continue to do so over the next four years.

Everybody knew at the last general election that a property tax would be introduced over the lifetime of the future Government. I was asked at the doorsteps in County Meath what we would do about a property tax. I told people out straight that we had to introduce a property tax. I have no doubt that I lost votes as a result, but that response was necessary because we had to be up-front and truthful with the people. We had to tell them that it had to be done. We are tied into doing it so we can continue to get funding from the troika.

We want this tax to be levied in as fair a manner as possible and to ensure that we protect the people who cannot afford to pay it. To ensure this happens the Minister has put together an expert group that will design a fair and progressive property tax. This group will look at the scope of the tax, the assessment criteria and what exemptions and waivers can be put in place. The group will report back to the Minister in the middle of next year and decisions will be taken after that. I welcome that because I believe it will lead to a more progressive and fair system. Already a number of exemptions have been put in place, for example, for people living in social housing and those in receipt of mortgage interest supplement, which amounts to approximately 18,000 households. There is also an exemption for people living in the 1,300 unfinished housing estates throughout the country. The expert group will report on more options for exemptions and waivers by the middle of next year.

We recognise that this money does not come easy to anybody; it is hard earned money that people will have to pay. We are committed to making sure the money is spent as efficiently and effectively as possible at local level. We are making the hard decisions and we will continue to do that so we can reclaim our economic sovereignty and get our country back to work.

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