Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The temptation to the Government is to raise €94 million. When I heard the word "gold-plated", I said: "Be careful here, we are in the territory of magicians." We use illusions. That is how magicians work. One does not see how they do the tricks but one gets the feeling that one understands them and one believes what one sees, which is not always the truth.

Let us look at the figures. I thank Deputy Naughten for giving us a bit of fact-finding. Fact-finding is always helpful. Take the B plan Options, the standard non-gold-plated one. It is a Cornflakes or porridge type policy. It costs €2,300 gross per adult. There is a 15% increase imminent, which brings the gross premium for one adult to €2,645. Deduct the €1,000 exemption per this proposal and it brings you to a taxable amount of €1,645. At 20%, that is €329. In a household of two, there will be €658 to be paid, which equates to a Dublin residential property tax.

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