Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I support the Sinn Féin Bill. Not for the first time, the Government has introduced a tax which does not do what it says on the tin. We have PRSI that does not provide one with anything and does not do what it says on the tin. The Government has introduced a carbon tax, the proceeds of which will not be spent on insulating people's homes or creating circumstances in which carbon emissions can be reduced. The proceeds of the tax which is the subject of the Bill before us do not go where they are meant to. Far from providing more money for local authorities, all the tax will do is fill the hole the Government has created by paying off debts we never accrued in the first place.

Even if that were not the case, there would be a problem in terms of accountability. If one spends money, there should be accountability in respect of what happens to it. Under the current local authority system and the one the Government plans to introduce, local authority members have and will have no power. They have the power to bow down to the executive and keep quiet about waste, after which they might get a few crumbs. How can one back a system like that? Even if the money was not being taken from local government, it would simply be going into a bucket with a hole in it. Fix the hole first, please.

See this speech in context