That is some wealth tax. What planet is the Government on? Some 62% of the long-term unemployed have been without a job for more than one year. The Government has slashed the wages of good public servants. It is an absolute disgrace to proceed to tax their family homes. The policy is not working and we need the Government to wake up to this reality.

The Government is spending time hounding the people to whom I have referred and also the SME sector. Some 180,000 small and medium-sized businesses, which employ 900,000 people, already have their backs to the wall given all the costs and the austerity. The SME sector represents 69% of the workforce and is worth more than €40 billion to the economy each year. Austerity and home taxes are not working. The Government should wake up and deal with the real issues facing the people.

With regard to the property tax, some people cannot afford to pay between €200 and €400 per year if child benefit is cut at the same time. Even the Fine Gael manifesto stated a recurring residential property tax on the family home is unfair. What has occurred represents another broken promise and more hot air from the Government. Local authority tenants will have the tax passed on to them in their rents, despite the fact that they have no property at all. This makes a mockery of the Labour Party's view that it is a wealth tax. Let us nail this on the head for the final time. The Government has tried to bring in other charges. I strongly support the legislation.

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