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

That is not even a parliamentary question. The point I was going to make, if the Minister of State had listened, was that there were other proposals that could have been considered. Reference was made to increasing taxes on higher income earners. What about a gambling levy? When I was young, I used to walk to the bookmaker's for my father to place a bet. If one bet €10, one had to pay a levy of 10%. Why not introduce a gambling levy of 5%? The Department has stated this would yield €265 million. Why ask people who simply cannot pay any more to pay more because they have a roof over their heads? It just does not make sense.

While Sinn Féin will oppose this tax vigorously, it will propose a raft of amendments to counter the worst elements of this very harsh Bill and try to strengthen it to make it more fair for those on low and middle incomes, those in negative equity and in mortgage arrears and those who simply cannot pay. Let there be no doubt that our objective is to fight this legislation tooth and nail and campaign for the abolition of the tax.

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