Alan Farrell (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The charitable housing bodies have made a cogent argument. I am sure all Deputies have received and read the e-mails. I am not sure why we are taking money from local government to give to local government, which seems pointless. The income limits for exemptions, at €15,000 for an individual and €25,000 for a couple, are clearly too low. What about the couple living next door to me who have a €300,000 mortgage and a household income of €31,000? I have seen the payslips; they pay €1,700 a month for their mortgage and are in arrears. What about the countless other families? We are simply adding a debt burden to those individuals. The income limits should be reviewed.

I welcome the Minister's proposed exemption for those in pyrite-affected estates. He alluded to this earlier when he said it would be referred to in the finance Bill. I welcome that because approximately 12,500 people living in estates such as mine in north County Dublin and dozens of others across the State are affected. These estates will be examined and the detail, of course, will be most important.

During the debate some people have mentioned that those in negative equity are somehow being unfairly treated in the introduction of a property tax. Negative equity is irrelevant in terms of the ability of a person to pay. For those not selling their houses, negative equity is not an issue. They pay their mortgage and other bills as they normally would. The only time it will affect people is when they go to sell. Obviously there are many choices to be made by people such as me, and doubtless countless others in this House and across the State, who are negative equity.

I again register my annoyance at the completely insufficient time allocated to debate the Bill.

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