Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)

I have always recognised Senator Boyle as pragmatic, thoughtful and realistic, and I am sure Senator de Búrca shares those qualities.

The Bill envisages that authors will be conferred with an exclusive right to allow the lending of their works in public libraries. It foresees the establishment under regulations to be brought forward by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government of a public lending remuneration scheme under which authors would receive a royalty payment for the lending of their works. The Department explicitly states the scheme will be publicly funded and will not involve direct costs to borrowers at the point of lending. Fine Gael hereby puts down a marker that we will tolerate nothing else. We cannot allow this scheme to become a fund raiser through the imposition of fees on borrowers.

Too often local government is seen as a soft touch. In an effort to give the impression that this is a low tax economy, local government has been left to pick up the funding slack by imposing taxes and charges with which central Government does not wish to be associated. Local government funding is of great importance in this debate.

Despite the fact that, according to the Government's own report, by 2010 there will be a €1.5 billion shortfall in local government funding, there was a paltry 2% increase this year. It is obvious the Government intends to continue its policy of taxing householders and businesses by stealth in order to make up the massive shortfall this year's budget will not come close to addressing.