Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We tabled an amendment to the effect that people in negative equity would be exempt, in conformity with the recommendations of the Commission on Taxation. We also tabled an amendment on households in receipt of certain social protection payments and for pensioners. We further tabled an amendment to deal with people who paid large amounts of stamp duty in the past ten years. Finally, we tabled amendments on low-income households. We will not get an opportunity to debate those amendments. The same thing happened with the Social Welfare Bill and the Finance (Local Property Tax) Bill before Christmas and now it is going to happen again. The Government is ramming the Bill through, showing scant regard for Parliament, the Dáil and the people, who would like Members of the House to have an opportunity to give full vent to these issues, and to have adequate time to put arguments and counter-arguments, amendment by amendment. The Government is showing no regard; it just wants to ram the Bill through as fast as it possibly can regardless of commitments it made in the programme for Government.

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