Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the Minister's comments. While I completely understand that it is he, as Minister for Finance, who will announce the tax, if it is introduced, on budget day, I believe the key question pertains to the need to furnish us with information on property tax. While the information in the report may be ignored by the Department of Finance, it is important that it be circulated to Opposition Deputies so they, too, will have the benefit of expert advice on the matter. The idea that the report is that of the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, is inaccurate because the Minister for Finance will introduce the legislation; it is now under the remit of the latter. Therefore, I cannot believe the report is not now on his desk and with his Department.

My second question was not only on the Thornhill report but also on the impact of the tax on low- and middle-income earners. The Minister is well aware that Allied Irish Banks raised its variable interest rate by 0.5 percentage points yesterday. It also did so at the end of July. Given an average mortgage of €200,000, some 70,000 people have seen their mortgage interest payments increase by €1,800. That is a lot of money. How is the Minister factoring in the impact of imposing a property tax on these people who are already being shafted by the likes of Allied Irish Banks, to which the taxpayer has given €21 billion in the past year to prop it up? Is any consideration being given to the impact on the domestic economy and low- and middle-income groups? Has the Minister commissioned any studies in this regard? Will he do so before the tax is introduced?

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