Michael Colreavy (Sligo-North Leitrim, Sinn Fein)

I contend that we have spent far too much time inside and outside this Chamber debating whether or how or how much we should extract from the householders of Ireland. Prior to the last election, the current Government parties promised better, more transparent and more accountable national government. They stated they would introduce better and improved local government, provide better representation for the Irish people in negotiations with the EU, the ECB and the IMF, and that things would be better for the people of Ireland. What have we got? We have got a Government which, like its predecessors in Fianna Fáil, appears to be hell bent on surrendering every vestige of independence, economic sovereignty and democracy. The Government should have initiated a much-needed public debate on what things are better done at local level, what things are better done at regional level, what things are better done at national level, and how we could fairly fund those. Instead, this Government and, as a result, the Opposition are expending energy and members of the public are expending their energy looking at ways and means of extracting a further €100 per household from already overburdened citizens.

The limits of the Government's reforms appear to be to implement the instructions from the troika and the bond markets. Instead of offering real reform or debating real reform with the public, the Government is more concerned with fiddling around the edges to appease the troika. There is no better example of this than the decision to introduce this household charge. It was introduced because the Government cut funding to local authorities. The funding was taken from local government and redirected to bail out the banks. That is the reason for the existence of this household charge. To raise €160 million needed for local authorities, a charge of €100 was imposed on people's homes. It shows the Government has failed in its commitment to reform local government. There are those on the Government benches who try to spin the household charge as an attempt to empower local government with its own funding. What blatant nonsense. It has diverted public funds away from local government and put that money into rotten banks.

The Government is asking people to pay for services on three occasions. People fund local government through their taxes and with the privatisation of services such as refuse collection, many households are obliged to pay twice. Following the introduction of the household charge, the Government is asking them to pay a third time for services for which they have already paid through their taxes. If it is serious about local government reform, it must begin to think outside the box. However, the limit of its thinking appears to be the household charge. This is not the path we should be taking if we really want to strengthen local and national democracy. The changes required in this regard must be implemented from the grassroots up. The Government must help people to empower themselves. It must begin to consider how it can build strong communities and give people the opportunity to change and improve their situation. The household charge is a double tax and should be resisted. It is grossly unfair because it penalises those on middle and low incomes. How could any person argue that it is a fair tax when millionaires pay the same amount as pensioners and lone parents who have already had their benefits cut?

There is another risk of which the Minister of State and his colleagues in government must be conscious. The people of Ireland and other European nations will neither thank nor forgive us if and when our national parliaments end up as no more than glorified but expensive regional councils. We are well down the road in this regard. What we are doing is introducing what can honestly be described as insidious legislation designed to meet a set of instructions given to us by unelected people. Even if these instructions were designed and commissioned by the previous Government - some of the members of which are now part of the Opposition - they are insidious and wrong. What they are doing is damaging, if not destroying, democracy in this country.

Let us engage in a real debate about local, regional and national reform and also on our relationship with our European neighbours and the wider world. Let us seek to restore democracy, pride, sovereignty and independence. Let us bin this insidious and unfair household charge. Let that be the beginning of a new way of governance in this nation.

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