Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)

We have organised public meetings in every county in the State to inform people of our opposition to this charge. We have tabled motions in almost every city, county and town council in opposition to it, many of which have been passed with the support of members of the Minister of State's party. Those representatives seem to be far more in touch with reality than their colleagues in the Labour Party living inside the Oireachtas bubble. Moreover, rather than merely stating our opposition to the charge, we have taken action to seek its repeal. The Bill brought forward by my colleague, Deputy Brian Stanley, seeks to reverse the disgraceful measure the Government imposed on ordinary citizens.

Some have questioned why we have not actively called on citizens to boycott the charge. We have not done so because people do not need politicians to preach to them. They have had enough of that from the Government. People are intelligent enough to make informed decisions for themselves, just as I have made an informed personal decision not to pay the household charge. Many people throughout the State have taken the same decision for the same reasons, namely, that it is an unfair and unjust tax.

I do not buy into the argument put forward by this Government that the household charge is necessary to fund local services. During my ten years as a member of Cork City Council I listened to members of the Labour Party complaining about the cuts in local government funding that were imposed by the Fianna Fáil Party in government. Yet, in its first budget upon assuming office, the Labour Party did precisely what its local representatives had been complaining about for a decade in regard to Fianna Fáil by cutting the local government fund by more than what this charge would bring in even if every eligible householder paid it.

Last night the Minister of State, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd, sought to justify the obligation on him, as a member of Government, to introduce unfair and unjust taxes such as this. One of the excuses offered was, "The troika made us do it". The troika also stipulated that the Government must bring forward legislation to deal with personal debt, but that Bill has not yet been published.

See this speech in context