Jimmy Harte (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments of Senator Mooney. The former French President Clemenceau said that a patriot loves his country and extreme nationalists hate all others. We are seeing a growth in extreme nationalism in Europe that 100 years ago broke up Europe and caused the deaths of up to 100 million people. We should be careful when we slag off our European neighbours that it is not feeding into such extreme nationalism. The Senator spoke about the Member of Parliament in Hungary. I hope that is an isolated case.

I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to come to the House on foot of the judge in Cork pointing out that many businesses in Cork and elsewhere are closing owing to the high levels of commercial rates. We must look again at the rating system for commercial units. Small businesses are required to provide the finance for local services while many individuals are refusing to pay the household charge that should cover these services. It should be remembered that those who are not paying the household charge are putting pressure on small businesses because, apart from the Government funding, the local authorities have no other source of income to provide local services.

While these individuals refuse to pay ¤100, small businesses are being asked to pay ¤2,000, ¤3,000 or ¤4,000 just to maintain a business and keep the doors open. There is a responsibility on certain parties in this Chamber to urge that we pull together because small businesses cannot take it anymore and the burden needs to be spread out. People living in larger houses worth ¤1 million are refusing to pay ¤100 while a small business with two or three employees trying to survive might be paying ¤5,000 a year in order that the local authorities can provide the services that people demand. The Minister should come to the House to debate the inequality of the rates system.