Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

What happened to Fianna Fáil's promise before the last election that it was going to abolish the USC? Its members will go out canvassing on the doors again and make more promises. What credibility do they think they can have with people? Fianna Fáil and other parties promised they would abolish it. I remember when it was, to quote the late Albert Reynolds, "a temporary little arrangement". It was a temporary tax that came in after the reckless behaviour allowed to carry on by the Fianna Fáil Government. I was a backbencher in it, I am ashamed to say. It was reckless and this was a punitive tax put on every man, woman and child. I know some lower income people have been taken out of the tax bracket, but what does this make of the commitments they will give to people in their manifesto? They might as well have a bit of toilet paper as a manifesto when they do not have any credibility or integrity or honesty to live up to the promises they make to people. You can fool some of the people some of the time, but if you fool all of the people all of the time, it is a serious situation for our democracy. The Minister did not make those promises, but his party leader and the party he is a member of did, as did the Government in which he was a Minister of State. They think they can pass the Bill with a small bit of tinkering around it to save a bit of face. It is not acceptable or good enough. A supposedly temporary tax was put on all those years ago, and this punitive tax has become part of the mechanism of getting tax from ordinary hardworking people trying to survive and live and pay their debts and bills and educate their families. It is a shame.

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