Michael Finucane (Fine Gael)

This Bill should be put in context. It provides for an increase of 12%, an increase introduced by stealth after the Budget Statement had been made and Members had gone home for the Christmas recess. Suddenly there was an announcement in the newspapers that motor tax was to be increased by 12% across the board.

I often wonder if the Government, in imposing increases, ever takes account of the consumer price index and inflation. Inflation was running at 4.6% but look at the range of increases that have occurred since the Government was re-elected. In all cases the increases have been in excess of the rate of inflation. College registration fees were increased by 69%. The same occurred with VHI and ESB charges. Take any example one wishes. At the end of the day, purchasing power has been reduced.

During the period of the Celtic tiger a survey was carried out, prior to the general election, which found that seven out of ten people believed their quality of life had improved over the previous five years and that they had more money. However, that is not reflecting the current reality. The Government pats itself on the back for matching the funding for non-national roads allocated for 2002. As there was a general election in May 2002, there was an excessive increase. At Estimates meetings members of the Government parties could feel good because they were announcing a big increase in funding for roads. The time to get such funding was prior to May 2002. Now, however, reality is dawning and a different situation prevails.