David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Members have no idea how much people will be obliged to pay. They certainly know it will not be linked to ability to pay, because there will be a vote on that later and I am sure it will be voted down by the Government Members.

On the question of ability to pay and in regard to this section in general, I note that in her response, Senator Keane tried to pretend that all the answers were contained in the Bill. The simple answer is either this will be linked to income or it will not. This is another simple question for the Minister of State. Will the charge be linked to the income of a household? If not, we will be reverting to the Thatcherite notion that the house itself is where the income is earned. However, it is the people who live in the house who earn money and consequently, the charge should be on the money coming into the house, not simply the number of people living therein. The road down which the Minister is travelling is the same road Margaret Thatcher took in the 1980s - that is, a move away from the notion of direct and progressive taxation. It is to get people to pay for everything separately, whereby the millionaire pays exactly the same as someone who earns €10,000, €20,000 or €30,000. This is the Fine Gael ideology that is behind all this and that is what is driving it. However, the Minister of State is not in a position to say otherwise because it is either linked to ability to pay and to income or it is not. The Minister should at least give Members a straight answer to a straight question. Will income be taken into account in the calculation of this charge? The answer is either "Yes" or "No". I ask for the fifth time, because the Minister of State has accused Members of asking-----