Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)

Last night, the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, called the household charge "a very narrow part" of the Government's programme but this is incorrect. It represents an important part of what the Government parties are about, which is sneakily attempting to make ordinary people pay more than their fair share for the bailout process Fianna Fáil started and they are happy to continue. This charge, which Ministers earning €170,000 a year are so eager to claim is paltry or nominal, is not about helping to fund local services or any other services; it is about fulfilling the deal struck with the ECB and the IMF. The final part of this section of the agreement requires the implementation of a full property tax. The rumour is that this will be taken from PAYE workers' wages in the same way the Government threatened people to pay the household charge or face the Minister for Justice and Equality's dreaded attachment orders, which were aimed at old age pensioners and other social welfare claimants, something the Labour Party and others said they totally opposed.

The household charge is a ham-fisted gimmick which fails miserably to take into account the differences between those who have a barely manageable mortgage for two-bedroom apartments in Santry, Finglas and Ballymun and those who own their Killiney mansions outright. Sinn Féin opposed this charge and made its arguments against it clear from the outset. It is an unfair flat rate charge, which will not benefit the people who pay it or the public services they and other residents of the State rely on. The Taoiseach joked and made light of the cost of the charge by saying it amounted to "less then €2 a week" but, as is par for the course, this was a serious distortion of the facts and a great example of his completely removed position from ordinary people. The charge cannot be paid in weekly instalments and it was to be paid within a set period or those liable would face late fines. Many opposed the charge on principle and not because of an inability to pay but, for some, the ability to spare €100 and pay the Government in one lump sum as if they were not struggling to keep their heads above water and as if their fair share has not been paid was too much for their bank balances and their stomachs.

In their hundreds and thousands, people rejected this charge. I called for the House to reconvene the week after the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis to put this Bill into action, having recognised the abject failure of the Government to convince the people of the legitimacy of this charge. My call fell on deaf ears, as did the calls of thousands of people who surrounded the venue of the Fine Gael Ard-Fheis. The leading Government party even closed the blinds unable to bear the sight of a people no longer willing to put up with this. The Government is intent on making the ordinary person pay repeatedly for services he or she is increasingly not receiving in order that the State can meet its nonsensical commitments to Europe through taxation and a plethora of charges based on its failure to plan a proper taxation system and provide services efficiently where needed.

Deputies Nash and Coffey barked at Sinn Féin about the North, pretending to care for the first time since partition about how the people of the Six Counties are faring under the Stormont Executive. Unfortunately, Stormont does not have fiscal powers and the Government has done little to help change that but I am glad the rates paid by the residents of the Six Counties are frozen at an average of €866 a year.

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