Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to speak. I support this amendment because this is a matter of choices. We can talk about the election and who did and did not get into government and what the results were. The fact is that we have a squeezed middle. The Minister's former leader was always talking about them - the men and women who get up early in the morning and go to work. They are particularly squeezed with the cost of living. I know there are a lot of soundings about it. I attended the committee meeting yesterday along with the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Chambers, on predictions for the future. All of us are worried as are families who are trying to send their children to school, pay fees, put food on the table, pay bills and stay above water. They see the waste and the carry on in government. I will not go into the waste all over the place but there is the OPW and the children's hospital to name a few. People are put to the pin of their collars, especially ordinary people. I am not talking about the people Deputy Doherty referred to who earn €100,000 to €200,000. They are well cushioned. Ordinary people cannot afford this and these are the people who pay for everything. They pay all their taxes and they pay for their kids to go to college and the school fees. The cost of medical insurance has gone up. Inflation has gone up. The Minister made lots of soundings that there will be no further supports for families to deal with inflationary costs. The Minister is imposing carbon taxes, which I fundamentally oppose, making it more expensive for people in this area as well.

With all of these things, people ask what services they are getting. This is the problem. Last year during the snow people could not get an eggcup of salt. People should be getting something for this. These people had to house themselves. They got mortgages and built their houses themselves, used direct labour or whatever. They paid planning fees, development charges and everything else. There might not be much between the different bands but it is a lot at €20 to €23. What services and supports do people get from the State and what protections do they get from the State?

I know of a group of people living in a lovely area outside Clonmel, Giant's Grave. There is illegal development taking place. Machines are being seized by the Garda. Such development is going on but the people are powerless. They are contacting me, Deputy Murphy and everybody else. These are all decent, hardworking people. Some of them are retired, some of them are sick and some of them approaching old age and they want to live quietly. They receive no protection from the State. They are waiting on the council in respect of enforcement. It is going through a process while shoddy people come in, do what they like, build and move illegal vehicles on to a site in front of them. These are lovely people who paid their taxes, worked and supported every charity and their neighbours. They have the spirit of the meitheal. They are bewildered as to how powers cannot be applied in respect of an illegal development right under their noses. It cannot be stopped and has to go through a process. When will it stop? They are worried for their children and grandchildren with the activities that are going on. I am bewildered as are they. We might say it is a small thing but fundamentally it is unfair.

We always have a debate about how property tax in Dublin is much higher than it is elsewhere but as we can see from the indexes and all of the different reports, such as those from Daft, house prices are going up and that means the property tax, no matter what band someone is in, will go up. I am fundamentally opposed to it. We need to look at legislation to see if we can get more powers for the local authorities to stop rogue developments taking place right under people's noses. They cannot do a thing about it nor can we, as public representatives. It is a sad state.

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