Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have tabled two sets of amendments to the Bill that I strongly urge the Minister to consider. The current tax punishes people who cannot afford to pay. At the meeting of the housing committee last week, representatives of the Revenue Commissioners confirmed that 43,000 people deferred their local property tax payments last year because they could not afford to pay them. This means single people with an income of €15,000 or a couple with income of €25,000. This deferral means that every year those people cannot pay, they will pay 4% interest. The rate of interest will be reduced to 3% after this legislation is enacted, but it is still interest on an original fee that these people cannot afford. What happens then is that the debt mounts year-on-year.

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael talk about this being a progressive wealth tax. That means that people are being penalised for being poor. The lowest income earners in this State will, ultimately, have to pay the most tax because of the interest incurred. It is punishing poverty, which is the answer to everything for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. According to ,last year there were 92,712 vacant homes in this State. In Cork alone, there are 8,880 vacant homes lying idle that could be used to house families and individuals in desperate need during this housing crisis. With only three full-time vacant homes officers, VHOs, in the State, this Government has completely failed to tackle the issue of vacant houses.

I am proposing a tax on vacant homes of 15% for any home that has been lying idle for more than 12 months in an area where there is a housing need. The Minister has said that this Bill will help to collect information and data on vacant homes. Information and data are not what people need. They need homes. The Minister should support my vacant house tax levy. It is an insult to ordinary people to see homes lying idle every day. I refer to houses that have been bought by investment funds and cuckoo funds that are driving up the prices of houses and rents. It is about time that we started to tackle the housing crisis. The Government has tried to make life easier for landlords, investment funds, cuckoo funds and vulture funds. It has tried to line the pockets of developers and even giving tax breaks to vulture funds. The only thing that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have not yet tried is putting ordinary people and families first. This is what Sinn Féin would do in Government.

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