Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are at a serious juncture with this Bill. I suggest that when the Cabinet and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Howlin, proposed the introduction of a self-assessment or partial self-assessment process, this was what they intended. When the Bill was approved by Cabinet in August 2012, the Minister in his press release made a big issue of this and on numerous occasions in the Dáil, the Minister's replies to questions referred to the principles of self-assessment to be utilised in the revaluation.

What seems to have happened, unless there has been some change in the meantime, is that this part of the Bill has been completely gutted. I object to that. Previously, the discussion was on the extent of self-assessment and how far it would extend, geographically, across the country. The Minister of State has brought this Bill to the House, but the wishes expressed by Cabinet and the Minister two years ago now seem to have been superseded during the long process of getting the Bill to this Stage. I do not know if there has been political involvement in this.