Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

Last night, the Local Government (Charges) Bill passed Committee Stage and will be concluded today. It is important legislation to provide for a property tax on second residences and includes in section 1 the Joe Duffy amendment that secured an exemption for mobile homes. There will be many Joe Duffy amendments to another measure which the Government seems intent on introducing, namely, property tax on primary residences. We have been there before and the experience was not pleasant. The residential property tax did not succeed. It conflicted with every basic principle of good taxation in that it was neither equitable nor successful and was difficult to administer. The Government parties should consider, notwithstanding that the Minister for Finance intimated in the supplementary budget that a property tax was being considered, whether they really want to go down this road. It will distract from what is really needed in the economic policies of this Government, that is, a focus on the expenditure and waste in public finances. I ask the Leader if we can expect an announcement on such a residential property tax in the coming weeks.