Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

People whose houses are affected by radon have not been recognised. I welcome the consideration given by the Minister to the voluntary housing sector, etc. but the Bill is draconian nevertheless. Giving the Revenue Commissioners power to enter people's homes is a retrograde step. I have stated in other debates that I am self-employed and I am used to dealing with the Revenue Commissioners in my premises because I operate a business from the home. That is fine.

The vast majority of home owners are in negative equity and are in appalling debt positions, leading to awful trauma, including marriage break-ups and many suicides. The Minister is aware of that. Nevertheless, we expect these people to get letters in the next week or two from the Revenue Commissioners. Anybody who gets a letter from the Revenue Commissioners would regard it as serious, and people may not know what to make of a house tax, self-assessment and valuation. These people have many bills already, which they cannot pay, and to get another like this amounts to heavy-handed tactics. The coalition in the 1980s was accused of this in another way.

I have argued more than once that the Minister's party and the Labour Party are punishing the electorate for having the audacity not to give them a turn in government for 14 years. The Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, mentions the 14 years every day. The public shares this view that members of Fine Gael and the Labour Party were so long in the wilderness - some Members are now approaching pension age - that the Government has decided to teach the public a lesson. On the front page of a newspaper the Minister, Big Phil the enforcer, indicated he would teach the media a lesson.

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