Brendan Ryan (Labour)

I apologise to the Minister for not being present for his opening remarks but I have read them.

I am always intrigued by our society and its peculiar choices. It is well known that the building industry has been on strike over this legislation and every local authority says there is a refusal to build houses in substantial numbers because builders do not like what has happened. All property owners, that is, those who own more property than the little patch of ground on which they have built a house, had assumed this measure, which provides for assistance in the provision of social and affordable housing, would be struck down by the Supreme Court. However, many people who talk about the Constitution have not read it.

The previous Minister for the Environment and Local Government was not earnest about holding a referendum if the Supreme Court struck down the provision. However, I am not surprised that the Supreme Court did not do so because our Constitution is quite specific about property rights. It is prescriptive about protecting people from unfair interference with such rights. If Senator McCarthy and I live beside each other and the State interferes with my property rights and not his, even though we are in an identical position, the Supreme Court will say that is not fair, as it did, for example, in regard to the Blasket Islands. There is also no reason to believe the Constitution protects people in general from the responsibilities that go with wealth.

Over the past 30 years the least entrepreneurial way of making money, which is to acquire land and sit on it, has been encouraged. There is no enterprise, imagination, innovation or patent involved. If one sits on one's land, one will be guaranteed it will increase in value and, because of the munificence of the Government and its predecessor, one will pay a lower tax on the gains generated by such inactivity than one would pay if one was earning €1 more than the minimum wage. One will pay 20 cent in the euro in capital gains, with a little indexation for the cost of living. If, however, one is working and earns €1 more than the minimum wage, one will pay 20% tax.