Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The manner in which the Government is seeking to ram the property tax Bill through the House today is ridiculous and unnecessary. Some 88 amendments have been tabled, none by the Minister for Finance. The Government is allowing three minutes of debate per amendment tabled. The tax does not fall due until next July. This begs the question of why the Government needs to use its massive majority in the House to bulldoze through this legislation through without proper debate or scrutiny.

The Government has no mandate to introduce this property tax. In last year's general election, the Taoiseach and his party campaigned vigorously against the introduction of any annual recurring tax on the family home. The Labour Party advocated a site value tax with provision for exempting certain home owners. It stated that the needs of people who paid stamp duty and those in negative equity would need to be taken into account. The Bill that has been published makes no such provision for those people.

In the Minister for Finance's Second Stage speech on the Bill last week, he acknowledged for the first time that the Government had the discretion to use alternative measures to achieve the troika's targets, yet the Government has chosen not to do so.

When the full effect of this tax hits, it will push many low and middle income families over the financial cliff. They will not be able to pay. Some 180,000 family home mortgages are in trouble. Does the Taoiseach even realise that a family with three or four children and a gross income of more than €480 per week will not be able to avail of a full deferral of the property tax? Does he realise that the homeless charity Focus Ireland estimates that it will be hit by an annual property tax bill of €100,000? Home owners in Dublin, Cork and other major centres will be particularly hammered by this tax, which ignores ability to pay and the value of the mortgage attached to the property.

Will the Taoiseach at least honour one of the commitments made in the programme for Government by not guillotining debate on this property tax legislation, which cannot in any way be described as urgent?

See this speech in context