Liam Twomey (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We will do so. I have read the Sinn Féin website. I hope there is more clarity than in the Sinn Féin website where there was no clarity. It is anti-democratic to use the Dáil Chamber to stoke fear and anger in people. There should be a more solid debate about these measures and I hope there will be next week. There are problems with this legislation and many people on this side of the House have acknowledged that, rather than the derision and hatred from those in the Opposition when they mention these things. That is not the way a national parliament is supposed to work. I expected more with regard to this debate.

We know that many people in negative equity will face a serious crisis with regard to how they will pay this property tax. There will be some solutions produced beyond what the Minister has proposed to help people out. At least there is a game plan to what the Government seeks to do with the property tax rather than the Fianna Fáil flip-flopping. That party agreed to this with the IMF and that is wrong.

Those in Sinn Féin must think that no one in Derry listens to the "Six-one" news show. People in Derry are paying £1,500 for what is basically a property tax. The same party down here maintains that we should not have anything like it. That is hypocrisy and it amounts to misleading the people. It is contributing to the anger and frustration that people legitimately feel because we are going through the worst crisis the country has ever seen since the State was founded.

I had expected to say more about it but there is no possibility of holding a reasonable debate in the House, of discussing how to impose rates on businesses, how to tax the profits of businesses, how to help businesses that are struggling, how to apply the same rules to households under pressure, whether we should ask people who can pay more to do so or of holding a proper discussion about issues such as child benefit. Clearly, this will not happen when those in opposition are simply lazy and all they want to do is stoke up anger or pretend they are angry. That is all I have to say.

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