Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The stamp duty increase for non-residential property is a fiercely blunt tool. It treats vastly different sectors of the non-residential property market exactly the same. On one side, one has phenomenally profitable flipping of commercial property and on the other side one has the farming sector, which is stuffed at the moment, where the average wage is €8,000 a year and where subsidies make up approximately 150% of the income of some farmers, yet those two vastly different sectors are being treated with exactly the same blind, blunt tool. I urge the Minister to examine it. This must have been a mistake. I cannot imagine for a moment that it was done on purpose by any person with an understanding of rural Ireland.

The bank levy is pocket money to the banks in this country given the level of profit they are making. These are phenomenally profitable organisations and they only exist because of the blood, sweat and tears of the Irish people. It is incredible that theraison d'êtreof this Government has been the protection of the banks in everything it has done. It has deleted competition from the pillar banks so that they can be protected. It has made sure that the banks do not have any competition from other companies in the market. It is now beyond time that the banks paid their fair share the same way as anybody else. They are certainly not doing it with the bank levy.

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