John Kelly (Labour)

On the household charge, it would be wise to push out the deadline by a couple of months. There are vulnerable people who have been listening to irresponsible legislators advising them to break the law and I pointed out yesterday that there are people who pay their bills weekly by buying stamps in the post office. As a former community welfare officer, I can say that at the moment the CWO service is inundated with people looking for help to pay the charge.

We are fast approaching the holiday season and many elderly people have received letters from the HSE telling them the home help will soon be on holiday and they must make alternative arrangements because there is no cover for them. I have raised this before. There is cover for them if the Minister for Health and the Department are willing to take on board my simple proposal. We have thousands of unemployed carers on social welfare. They should be taken on through a community employment scheme, which would cost the taxpayer €25 per week and get 20 hours of service for it. That amounts to €1.77 per hour to take on carers in this way.

Could I ask for a show of hands as to who is paying the household tax this week?