Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

However, the answer is not to hand it over to multinational corporations, which will do precisely as I have outlined whenever it makes commercial sense. The responsible thing to do would be to place production in public ownership and leave the vast majority in the ground.

On the detail of the amendment, I do not accept the notion that applying an increased taxation rate on oil and gas discoveries that occurred in the past amounts to some form of retrospective action. That is not the case and the same logic does not apply when ordinary people are simply expected to pay water charges, even if the majority still do not do so. Two, three and four years ago, people did not expect to have to pay water charges. The Government, however, felt free to impose these charges and citizens did not have the right to argue that they did not expect to have to pay them. Double standards are being applied. It is the right of the Government to propose and of the Dáil to agree to increase taxation rates regardless of when things were founded or discovered. At a minimum, we should have a report that explores the possibilities of doing so.

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