Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)

I am grateful for the opportunity to partake in this debate on this exceptionally important matter, the household charge, which touches the hearts and minds of almost every household throughout the country. I try to tune into my local radio station, Limerick's Live 95FM, which is more a regional station, as much as I can, even when in Dublin, through the Internet or on my smartphone. Each morning the station has a radio phone-in show. Over recent weeks, I have been struck by the number of people still phoning the show complaining about the household charge. The one underlying theme in all of these calls is the inherent inequity of the household charge and the unfairness in how it has been applied.

During the debate on the household charge legislation, Fianna Fáil opposed it in the form it was presented. We did so because as a charge or a taxation, it did not meet two fundamental criteria. It was neither equitable nor collectible. Tonight the classic example was given of the millionaire versus the pensioner when it comes to how equitable the charge is. A wealthy person will pay the same charge of €100 as someone in negative equity with mortgage arrears and other personal debt problems, who is out of a job and living on social welfare. Therein lies the fundamental problem with the charge. It is foolish to rationalise its concept. That is the tenor of all the radio phone-in messages to radio stations throughout the country.

Fianna Fáil proposed several amendments to the legislation to broaden the exemptions and waivers. The Government would not hear of it at the time. We did not even have an opportunity to move the amendments because the legislation was guillotined. If I recall correctly, the legislation was published on the same day as the budget, which is highly questionable and irregular. For such a new departure, as the Minister of State described it, and a structural change to the taxation system to be floated in on the same week as the budget and given two hours debate in the Dáil is wrong. We are supporting this Sinn Féin Bill which will repeal the household charge legislation. The charge should be re-introduced on an equitable basis.

We all recognise local services have to be funded. However, a root and branch fundamental reform of local government is required. Any existing reforms are going on too much in a piecemeal fashion. When the government parties were in opposition, they fought local elections on national issues. Local elections traditionally and consistently have been a type of mid-term referendum on the Government of the day's performance. During local elections, candidates campaign on national issues while not being held responsible for their local policies. That has ill-served local government. Funding of local government has always been on a centralised basis. The introduction of the household charge was also done in a centralised way. A local authority does not have the discretion to levy local taxes which is a problem that feeds into local democracy.

Earlier, the issue of septic tank charges was raised. This charge was debated both at length in committee and this House. My party, along with Sinn Féin and the Technical Group, tabled an amendment to remove the registration charge of €50 but we were told the charge would raise €25 million. Then one evening on the six o'clock news the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, prior to attending a Fine Gael public meeting in Dundrum House Hotel, County Tipperary, announced he was dropping the registration fee to €5. We went from the Government opposing my party's amendment to remove the registration as it was a charge on the Exchequer to the Minister appearing on the news to announce he was dropping the charge to a fiver. The message that sends to the public is that the Government is all over the shop when it comes to registration fees and charges. If people are looking at this carry-on with the septic tank charge, of course they will think the same with the household charge. That adds into the complications for people understanding the whole unfairness of the charge in the first instance.

The Minister of State referred to unfinished housing estates, which is a significant issue. Across the country, there are many unfinished estates that are not categorised as category three or category four and, accordingly, do not qualify for exemption from the charge. The process by which those housing estates can now be categorised as unfinished is not published and is not clear to the public. If a member of the public contacts the local authority and manages to get through the layers of bureaucracy to someone who might know, he or she will be told there is some type of a process. For example, one estate in my constituency, Ceol na hAbhann in Caherconlish, is obviously unfinished, even to my non-construction eye, but it is not categorised as unfinished. People in such estates are looking at the schedule of unfinished estates as it is published on the Internet but cannot make any sense of it. We need to have an obvious rationale as to what basis estates are declared unfinished.

The fundamental problem with the household charge is the lack of real or meaningful exemptions from payment. I know the Minister has cited waivers for those in voluntary housing schemes and local authority rented houses. Old age pensioners who live on the State pension alone should have also been exempted from the payment. In the past people have been granted a discretionary a medical card because they were suffering from all sorts of complications and were highly dependent on medication. However, those who formerly would have been granted a medical card have more recently been means-tested by an agency of the State. If an individual is deemed eligible for a medical card, it is obvious that he or she has a difficulty in paying the household charge.

Many younger couples who paid excessive stamp duty at the height of the boom are now facing mortgage arrears. Approximately 90,000 mortgage holders are in arrears of 90 days or more. Many of these households are living in unfinished housing estates. It is unfair to expect them to pay the €100 charge. A similar argument can be made in respect of those in negative equity.

It will be argued that the household charge was part of the deal with the troika, but I sat down with its representatives during the period when Opposition Members were allowed to do so. We were not afforded an opportunity to meet troika delegations during their last two visits. The Government suddenly sent a signal to the troika that it should not meet Opposition Members, which is not good for politics. In our last meeting with the troika we drew its attention to the unfairness of the household charge and were told it was a matter for the Government to prioritise. It did not have to be introduced this year. The Government can introduce whatever measures it likes from a menu of items, provided the bottom line figure is met. I do not accept its argument that the household charge was part of the memorandum of understanding. It had an array of options from which to choose.

I will finish where I started, with the people ringing my local radio station in Limerick. What is happening in Limerick is repeated in other parts of the country. Where do the people of Limerick city and county stand now that 45% of households have not registered because the vast majority are simply unable to pay? The Irish League of Credit Unions has found in a survey that people have been put to the pin of their collar. Will the 45% of Limerick people who encounter difficulty in paying the household charge be hauled before the courts?

When one introduces a charge or tax, one must recognise inability to pay and the need for fairness and equity. The Government should have heeded Fianna Fáil's proposals for reasonable exemptions and waivers for old age pensioners, the unemployed, those in receipt of social welfare payments, medical card holders and those in negative equity or with mortgage arrears. We recognise that certain people can afford to pay the household charge, but others are unable to pay and working people in middle Ireland are being squeezed. The Revenue Commissioners are to be mandated to pursue these same individuals through the PAYE system. We need a fundamental debate on the bloc of people who are working and paying for everything. We cannot continue along our current path in the absence of growth in the economy. The household charge, as it stands, is unjust and unfairly applied across the country.

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