Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)

Austerity is the name of the game for both the Government and its predecessor. This is part of a suite of taxes, comprising the household tax, the water tax, the septic tank tax and the property tax, all of which have been imposed on ordinary, middle and low-income earners and poor people in general. Its purpose is to pay anonymous speculators and bondholders. The money raised is to be handed over to the banks and those who destroyed the country and brought about the recession. I note €1.25 billion was handed over today and that a further €1.2 billion will be handed over before the summer. Moreover, we will pay €3.1 billion in promissory notes to Anglo Irish Bank on 31 March. This is what the septic tank and other taxes are all about. They are about making ordinary people pay for a recession they had no hand, act or part in creating.

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