David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have no intention of doing so. I will read directly from page 16 of the manifesto. It states:

Labour accepts that it will be necessary to introduce a site value charge, in order to prevent higher taxes on work. The Government has not, however, carried out sufficient work to allow such a charge to be introduced in the short-term. Further detailed study will be required to devise a fair basis for such a charge that takes account of the value of property in different regions, the need to exempt some categories of homeowners, and the need to take account of those who have recently paid large sums in stamp duty or who are in negative equity.

We have already put on the record of the House the position of Fine Gael, which was opposed to an annual recurring charge. I am making the point that this was the position of both parties. Everybody, including Fianna Fáil, recognised before the election that a significant section of the population was in negative equity and bought at the wrong time through no fault of their own. They were victims of bad policies and the property boom and their houses might now be worth less than the amounts they paid for them. We have put forward a reasonable request in respect of dealing with the chargeable value. I again ask the Minister to rethink this issue. I know it is very difficult for him to do so when he is rushing through this Bill, which is one of the reasons we wanted more time to put forward suggestions constructively. Even when opposing the charge, it is again reasonable for us to try to take the rough edges off it, if we can, to make it a bit easier for those families in negative equity, which is what we are trying to do with this amendment.