Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)

I think the Minister for Finance announced this quite some time back. It is part of a regular review of the LPT. The Minister has worked extremely hard to make sure that any increases will be modest, particularly in terms of the valuations and so on.

He did that a number of years ago and effectively managed it. Remember that the revenue goes to improving and enhancing services that people in this House come in looking for every single day. It is a balance. We have been warned, the Government has been warned, that it is spending too much. The Opposition does not think we are spending enough. Some in opposition think we are being reckless with the economy but then they want us to spend more. There are challenges and difficulties here. We are very conscious of the impact of this on people, and that was why we increased the old-age pension by €10.

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