Pearse Doherty
Donegal · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I move amendment No. 1 to Seanad recommendation No. 2: To delete from the row dated "1 September 2026" down to and including the row dated "1 May 2030" and substitute the following: " 15 July 2026 €502.88 €502.88 €371.85 €371.85 €371.85 €0.00 €210.45 €172.14 €167.25 €79.17 €11.48 14 October 2026 €502.88 €502.88 €371.85 €371.85 €371.85 €0.…”
“Next week, this House will rise, the doors of Leinster House will be locked and Ministers will head off on their summer holidays. Their parting gift to ordinary Irish people across the State will be to have locked in fuel price increases that will hit them in their pockets.”
“That is not acceptable and it is why we in Sinn Féin have tabled this amendment to say that these price increases should not be going ahead and that prices should be properly monitored at the appropriate time.”
“This is tied to the latter amendment and I will speak further at length on that. Recommendation No. 1 deals with the diesel rebate scheme, which operates within a window that closes on 1 October.”
“Hope is what we rely on when we have no control. It is not a substitute for prudent economic planning. There is zero certainty here. There are no guarantees that the Strait of Hormuz will remain open or that global supply lines will not be choked tomorrow morning.”
“As if that were not good enough, the Government is not just hitting people with increases on petrol and diesel. On top of that, it is going to hit them with an increase in the cost of home heating oil, natural gas and a basic bag of coal.”
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“Local lad Jack Donaghy, who has cerebral palsy, and his mother, Denise McGahern, were included in the photo op. They were understandably delighted the funding was finally being provided for Jack and many others. Fast forward nine months to March 2025, there was still no sign of the money being released. Denise went public to express the disgust and anger she felt at her son being as an election prop for a Government photo op. In March, the Tánaiste apologised for the situation going on for so long and said it would not defend something that was indefensible. In regard to the funding, he said that he was going to make sure it is released and provided. Five days after the exchange between me and the Tánaiste in the Dáil, the Government again announced that funding would be released, yet despite his promises here we are.”
“I have a letter stating that despite funding for organisations having been publicly announced by the Minister, organisations have been asked to reapply for short-listing with no guarantee that funding will be provided for projects or be granted. The grant was announced in 2023 as an emergency fund to fill a gaping hole left by the HSE which was not able to provide vital therapies for children. That was 20 months ago. Parents and children with special needs thought the Government had finally heard their cries for help, but the months went on and nothing happened. No funding was released. Just two days before the local elections in June 2024, then Ministers, Senator Anne Rabbitte and Deputy Charlie McConalogue, held a press event in Donegal re-announcing the funding.”
“I am sure the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will not mind if I take this opportunity to wish Katie Taylor, our undisputed world champion, all the very best as she steps into the ring in Madison Square Garden tonight. We are right there in heart and spirit with her. Go n-éirí léi. Tá sé 20 mí anois tar éis don Rialtas maoiniú éigeandála a gheallúint don chéad uair chun cúram riachtanach a chur ar fáil do leanaí le riachtanais speisialta, ach go fóill níl an t-airgead ar fáil. Tá sé seo scannalach. I have received confirmation that vital funding through the children's disability grant first announced by the Government 20 months ago has still not been released. It is even worse than that.”
“United value foods, the owners of SuperValu, saw its stock price rise by 60% in the last year. It is time that the Minister of State took action. The Taoiseach said that he has the guts to take on price gouging, so he should show it because we need to make food affordable. We have seen action taken in other jurisdictions by other governments right across Europe, but here in this country and here with this do-nothing Government, people are being ripped off and the Government is sitting on its hands. It is not acceptable any more.”
“There have been 50,000 phone calls to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul by families who cannot afford food, and the Government has just sat back and done nothing. It has ignored people's reality. People are getting fleeced and the reality is that the Government still has no idea of what is going on. It has no oversight of the profits or pricing of the large retailers and supermarkets. Farmers have been getting squeezed for years but now consumers are being ripped off and someone in the middle is profiting off all of this suffering. Do not try to spin the yarn that there is nothing to see here. The stock prices of supermarkets and the large retailers and food companies have been going through the roof. They have been skyrocketing in recent times. Tesco's stock is up 30% in the last year.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an rún seo ó na Social Democrats. Sinn Féin will be supporting this motion. By any measure the Government has failed to get to grips with the cost-of-living crisis. It is either doing nothing or making things worse. If we name any of the issues, we can see that we are paying more. The price of everything has gone absolutely through the roof, from energy bills to rent, insurance and childcare. It is all going one way and that is up. The cost of the weekly shop is now €3,000 more per annum for many families. People are working harder and harder but they cannot keep up. Fine Gael's Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, gave supermarkets six weeks to cut prices. That was over a year ago. It was just an embarrassing PR stunt by the Government. Since then, food prices have gone up faster and faster.”
“Unfortunately, we have a Government which is always on the side not of students or those who find it difficult, but on the side of the elite, the landlords, the bankers and all the rest. We will fight it tooth and nail on this. It needs to do the right thing and scrap student fees. As a first step this September it should make sure they are not going up; they should be coming down.”
“I plead with every single TD to have the backs of students just like Sinn Féin has, have the backs of their parents just like we in this party have, and do the right thing. They need to make sure that student fees are not increased this September. Indeed, as Sinn Féin has shown, we need to abolish them. The Minister will say that the resources are scant. However, the Government gave a €160 million tax break to landlords last year, which is more than it would cost to reduce student fees. It gave a €180 million tax break to the banks that made €4 billion in profit, which is more than what it would need to reduce student fees. I know where my priorities and Sinn Féin's priorities are.”
“That is why we, along with the students of Ireland and other parties in opposition, will fight this Government tooth and nail. It is simple: education is a right and should not be a privilege. Maybe from Government Buildings and the ivory towers that Ministers live in, they think it will be okay and that parents will be able to find an extra €1,000, €2,000 or €3,000. The Minister should talk to the Minister for housing. What did he do? He unshackled the landlords against these students, the same students who come September will have no protection whatsoever and landlords will be allowed to jack up rents as high as they want. This is a full-on assault by this Government on the students of Ireland and we in Sinn Féin will not stand for it. That is why we tabled this motion.”
“Every single day in the Dáil last week and this week, we put the same question to the Government: will the fees be €2,000 or €3,000 next year? Not one Minister was able to answer that question because they all know the decision the Minister announced is the one that holds. September will see fees of €3,000. Not since Ruairí Quinn broke the promise that he made in the 2011 election have students been so betrayed by a Minister for education - a Minister for higher education in this instance. He is absolutely blind to the suffering that is going on right across the board. People are really struggling with rents going up, with prices going up and now the Government wants student fees to go up. We say that people have had enough.”
“I commend the motion to the House. The Minister and the Government are all over the place when it comes to student fees. The Minister went on the national broadcaster and scared the bejeysus out of every student and parent across the State when he told them in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis that student fees were going to go up. It came like a bolt out of the blue for every parent listening to that. For those with two or three children at college, that is an extra €2,000 or €3,000 they needed to find on that Sunday morning because of this announcement. Since then, the Government has been all over the place, with Government Members contradicting each other, trying to play this down and trying to talk about envelopes in Estimates. We had the Taoiseach talking about windows and all the rest. The reality is parents want clarity.”
“What we deserve is a fully costed commitment from the Government on a Letterkenny to Derry line, the other potentials that exist, how we deliver the project, and the timeframe for it. We must make sure that Donegal is no longer a forgotten county. It is not acceptable anymore, in particular when we talk about all the challenges, including regional development and climate change. Donegal has simply been forgotten in regard to rail and that cannot continue any longer. I seek commitments from the Government to push this forward.”
“Investment in rail infrastructure in the north west is crucial if we are in any way serious about balanced regional development. Donegal is one of the few counties on the island of Ireland that does not have a rail network. That is simply unacceptable. The rail review has proposed linking Derry and Letterkenny, which is crucial for the north-west city region, as well as connectivity with Belfast and a spur to Dublin. I would love to see a direct line from the capital city, Dublin, to the fourth largest city on the island, namely, Derry. It is my ambition to achieve that. It is appalling and shows the effects of partition that, in this day and age we simply do not have a connection between those two cities.”
“As Deputy Mac Lochlainn has said, there is absolutely no way we are going to allow this to happen. The surgical hub not being delivered in Letterkenny is not just about resources not coming to Donegal. It is about the accident and emergency department closing down in the future, maternity services closing down and our hospital being downgraded. Those are not my words; they are the words of those on the front line. We will not accept it. That is why the Minister of Health must make the right decision on the basis of facts.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his response. He says no decision has been made yet. Will he give clarity in his response? It is not just Deputy Harkin who has gone on local radio to say this; the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae has also gone on and said she has secured this. We now have two Ministers of State who make up the formation of the Government saying it. Does one hand know what the other is doing? Has the Minister for Health or the Department clarified with Deputy Harkin whether a deal exists - as she claims - or not? Is this just the Minister of State suggesting that he has no knowledge of a deal within the Department? They are two different things. We would like clarification on that. Outside of a deal or not, this decision has to be made on the merits and the facts.”
“I am sure it was news to the 160-plus surgeons, consultants and doctors who signed the letter making very reasonable medical arguments for the locations. I want the Minister of State to come clean today. Has the Department ascertained whether there is any secret deal in respect of the location of this surgical hub? That clarity is needed. Has the Minister approached Deputy Marian Harkin to get clarity in this regard? I would like the Minister for Health to listen to the concerns of the TDs here. As I said, Deputy Gallagher would have liked to have been here as well. This is a cross-party issue because the issues in Donegal are so important. As I said to the Minister, if she makes the decision based on the facts, there is no doubt that the surgical hub will be located in Letterkenny.”
“This would not be to the detriment of Sligo – we believe the north-west region has been left behind for far too long – but there has to be a location in Letterkenny. Last Friday, on local radio, we had the Minister for State, Deputy Harkin, who, as we know, was part of the grubby deal with Deputy Lowry to put this Government in place, stating on Highland Radio with Greg Hughes that she secured the location of the surgical hub in Sligo as part of that deal. That is news to us, the TDs who sat across the table from the Minister for about an hour and a half making the case for the surgical hub because the Minister will eventually be the person who decides on the location. It is news to us, having sat repeatedly in meetings with the HSE arguing the toss about why the surgical hub should be in Letterkenny.”
“There are only two of us raising this matter. Deputy Gallagher sends his apologies. He got called away yesterday. As the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, knows, the surgical hub is a key issue in Donegal. The hub has to be delivered in Letterkenny. It is not just a case of trying to ensure we have the resources in the county. We have heard from an unprecedented number of doctors, surgeons and consultants in Letterkenny hospital and they have told us that without the surgical hub there, they are at serious risk of losing accident and emergency services and maternity services within a short period. That is why they and all the politicians in Donegal have come together and made it very clear that we need to see a surgical hub delivered in Letterkenny.”
“That is €2,000 or €3,000 more that they have not budgeted in. Will the Minister give clarity now that the Government's position is that, when the fees letter lands in September, they will be increased by €1,000 and the fees will be charged at €3,000 per student? What is needed-----”
“Families are asking if the fees are going to cost €2,000 or €3,000 come September. The Minister went on to say that this was the way things were done but the Minister, Deputy Lawless, has made it very clear that fees will go up by €1,000. He said that if he did not have a cost-of-living package, he could not take the kinds of measure that were taken last year. There is no point blaming Donald Trump's tariffs for what the Government is doing to students. Why are students being attacked? This has been done already with rent increases. They are going to get a double whammy. The Minister does not understand or appreciate the strains families are under. I gave an example but there are countless others and they are bound to be in his constituency. These are parents with two and three children in college.”
“This is a family beside itself with worry and concern. So many thousands of other families are in the same situation. Students and their families have had enough and cannot take anymore. I want the Minister to be very clear, put this issue to bed and give clarity to the parents and students out there. When a student gets his or her bill of fees in September, will it cost €2,000 or €3,000? They demand clarity and the Minister should give it now.”
“It would give them the hope that they can build a good future in their own country. Aontas na Mac Léinn in Éirinn has called this right. The Students' Union of Ireland has called this absolutely right. It was spot-on when it described the plan to jack up third level fees by €1,000 as a calculated betrayal of students. The public needs clarity. Throughout the State, parents and students are worried about this. Last night, for example, we were contacted by a father who is working every hour that God sends him to put his three children through college. He contacted one of the Government TDs and asked a very simple question. In September, will he have to pay €3,000 per child for student fees, or €2,000? The Government TD could not answer. He got no clarity whatsoever; he got no answer. He does not have an extra €3,000.”
“Many of them are pushed to the pin of their collar just to do that. Hitting them with an extra €1,000 will make going to college impossible for many. No wonder young people are leaving this country in their droves. This Government is determined to mess things up for them in the here and now, right here at home. It is hell bent on ensuring that this country is no country for young people. All this is happening at a time of a massive budgetary surplus of €8.5 billion. The State has never been wealthier. Yet, the Government comes along with this mad idea about taking an extra €1,000 and hiking student fees by that amount. We should be scrapping fees not just for students but also for apprenticeships. We need to make education affordable. That is what a Government on the side of young people would do. It would show them that they matter.”
“The Fianna Fáil Minister could not have been clearer. Fees are going up by €1,000 in September. This is just the latest from this Government that is choosing to increase prices for folks in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. In the past number of weeks alone, it chose to hike up the extortionate rents, to hike up the price of petrol, diesel and home heating oil and to hike up the price of the local property tax. Nobody else did this. These were all Government decisions. As if families were not hurting enough and as if they were not being squeezed enough, the Government comes along with this mad idea to increase the bill for a family sending their son or daughter to college by €1,000. Does the Minister simply not get it? Sending a kid to college is already costing families an arm and a leg.”
“Tá cinneadh an Rialtais chun táillí coláiste a ardú €1,000 craiceáilte. Is feall scannalach é ar mhic léinn agus ar a muintir. Cuirfidh sé brú sa bhreis orthu fad agus atá siad ag streachailt leis an ghéarchéim chostas maireachtála. For months we have listened to the Government telling us how it has students' backs. It has a very funny way of showing it. First the Government decided to hit students and their families with big rent increases and now Fianna Fáil's Minister for higher education, Deputy Lawless, has announced that the Government is going to hike up student fees by €1,000 this September. That is a double whammy. The Government faces a massive public backlash. As with its madcap rent plan a couple of weeks ago, it is now scrambling around looking for cover. It is total incompetence again from this Government.”
“In no other country that fought for its freedom would you have a government so blatantly disrespecting and vandalising its hallowed ground and history. I am sure we all remember that the Tánaiste's party and the Government of which he was part wanted us to commemorate the Black and Tans just five years ago. Given what the Government is doing in terms of the GPO and given the disrespect it shows to Dr. Kathleen Lynn, what have Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil got against the heroic men and women of 1916?”
“The public is outraged by the Government's plan to turn the GPO into mainly shopping units and offices. The GPO is the most iconic site of our country's fight for freedom. It is the place where the Irish Republic was declared and where it was bravely defended during the Easter Rising. It is disgraceful stuff coming from the Government. If that is not enough, the Government refused to name the new national children's hospital after Dr. Kathleen Lynn, a pioneer medic and a heroine of 1916. The Dáil voted unanimously in April to name the hospital after Dr. Lynn, but that was ignored. Instead, €4,500 of taxpayers' money was spent to come up with a name. What did it come up with? Wait for it - the National Children's Hospital Ireland. Is this a joke?”
“He was going to lay down the law and everything was going to change within six weeks. Prices are through the roof. This Government is impotent in the face of that. People are struggling. I am asking the Government again for a cost-of-living package that will support families and workers right throughout this State in the middle of this cost-of-living crisis. It is what is needed. It needs to be brought forward without delay.”
“For example, it passed legislation last night meaning every person in this State will pay more local property tax. Earlier this year, it put up the price of petrol and diesel. Also earlier this year, it put up the price of gas and heating oil to keep people's homes warm. Just in the last weeks, the Government has ensured that rents will go up for new renters right across the State, including students that the Government talked about in terms of student supports. That is also the lived experience of people. Let us get down to basics. Costs are going through the roof. People are struggling with their weekly shopping. A Minister of State said he was going to stop this. He was going to tackle this. He said he was going to call into the supermarket two years ago.”
“The Tánaiste says inflation is falling and it will take a while for people to feel the effects, but he knows the phrase "inflation is falling" means pricing are still going up. It just means they are not going up as fast as they were in the past. It means the prices people have seen go up in recent years are higher today. That is the real lived experience of Jackie, Paul, Lorraine and thousands of people across the State. The Tánaiste can pat himself on the back as much as he wants for what he has done but people's lived experience is that not enough is being done. The Government has ruled out a cost-of-living package in this year's budget. It is the wrong approach. The Government has done other things the Tánaiste did not mention.”
“He cannot keep patting himself on the back for the things the Government did last year or the year before. People are under pressure right here, right now. That is Paul's experience, Jackie's experience and countless experiences across this State. They need help now. I am pleading with the Tánaiste to change his mind. I ask the Government to do its job and bring forward a package of supports that will provide relief for these households. It needs to bring a cost-of-living package forward without delay.”
“My teenagers are going to college soon. I have no idea how we will pay for that. Thousands of people filled in this online survey. That is a snapshot of what they are feeling about out-of-control prices and what they are doing to people. It is a nightmare for folks out there and they cannot believe their ears when they hear the Tánaiste or Taoiseach, or their partners in government, stand up and say they will not do anything for them and will not bring forward a cost-of-living package in this year's budget. The State has never been better off but the hard-working people who made that happen have been left high and dry. How is that fair? The Tánaiste says - and I am sure he will say it again - that the Government is aware of what people are going through, but then he does nothing. He rules out a cost-of-living package.”
“Paul says: When we go grocery shopping we tend to buy the cheapest brands and try to get our meat and poultry at a discounted price in the sell by date fridge. We worry that we’re not eating properly. We're afraid to turn on the heating when it’s needed [because] our bill goes through the roof. We’ve a 7 year old son. It hurts telling him that we can’t afford to buy him nice things. Lorraine told us: As two university graduates with 4 children, we struggle every week. Only one parent can work full time as childcare is too expensive. We are trying to manage 6 people on 1 salary. Our grocery bill has skyrocketed. We try to save on our electricity bill but this is also way higher than it was 4 years ago. Our health insurance puts us into debt but we have to pay it because one of us has a life threatening medical condition. It’s infuriating.”
“People are sick of seeing their hard-earned money swallowed up by out-of-control prices and are fed up with barely keeping up. They are hit from all angles, whether extortionate rents, massive energy bills, the high cost of petrol and diesel or unaffordable childcare. The one thing that is putting households under most pressure at this time is the cost of food. Some 91% of respondents told us they were struggling with runaway grocery prices. As part of the survey, we asked them to tell us their stories. I want to share a few of them today. Jackie wrote: My weekly food shop bill has doubled. 4 years ago I wasn’t worried about the summer holidays. But kids will want days out and treats. Just like ice cream. I can’t afford that. I haven't brought myself new clothes in 3 years. I don[']t sleep well with worry.”
“Tá brú ollmhór ar theaghlaigh de bharr praghsanna atá ag ardú. Ní chreideann daoine a gcluasa nuair a deir an Rialtas nach ndéanfaidh sé a dhath le tacú leo. Ní féidir leo a thuilleadh de na praghsanna seo a fhulaingt. Caithfidh an Rialtas pacáiste tacaíochta a thabhairt chun cinn láithreach a thabharfaidh faoiseamh d'oibrithe agus do theaghlaigh. Soaring prices - that is what everybody is talking about out there. In the last couple of weeks, we put out a cost-of-living survey online. Thousands of people replied to that survey and the results mirrored what we hear every day. The price of everything is going through the roof and people are finding it harder and harder to keep their heads above water. Almost 70% of respondents to our survey say they were just managing to get by.”
“However, there was enough money in the pool, limited as it was, to ensure that every eligible venue got support. Why is that important? It is important because the acts, the sound engineers and the lighting engineers get the support. There are people in my county and the north west who need that support, just as much as they need it in Limerick, Cork and Dublin. The Department has made a major mistake in how this was allocated. It has completely ignored the north west. Because it is not a huge amount, I appeal to the Minister to provide funding to the other 12 eligible applicants. It would be about €150,000. The Minister should at least make an appeal to the Minister for public expenditure or to his own Department to make sure that every eligible applicant gets their fair share of this support.”
“I am a Donegal TD. I will not stand here and say that the Department did a great job when it excluded the entire north west from this support scheme. The venue that I am talking about provides more grassroots events than many of the others that were eligible. I am sure that the Minister will be delighted when he goes back to Limerick. How many got the grant in his own county? Was it four or five? That is good for them. I support every single grassroots venue and every single festival. That is really important. However, in Donegal and the north west generally there is an industry that needs to be supported as well. The idea that the Department decided without telling the applicants that funding would be provided on a first-come first-served basis is simply wrong. I commend the Minister on being able to secure this as a pilot project.”
“The Minister will have this data. My question to the Minister chimes with what Jim McGuinness has been talking about regarding Donegal GAA for a while. Does the Minister not recognise that there are grassroots venues in the north west, that there are acts that need to be supported in these venues and that there are sound engineers and technicians who need to have a way of life as a result of that? The night-time economy initiative in Buncrana is completely different. No venue in Buncrana is eligible. No venue in counties Donegal, Sligo or Monaghan fit the criteria that have been set, bar The Social.”
“To my knowledge, not one venue in the north west has been granted this money. The Minister announced this scheme that went from €5,000 up to €15,000 and the Department decided that 12 eligible applicants would get no money whatsoever. It would have been fairer for the Department give every eligible applicant €11,000 or thereabouts. There was €500,000 available so each could have got €11,000. However, the Department decided to give the money on a first-come first-served basis, despite the fact that in the case of The Social, its application was in to the Department within a week. They were told that someone got in before them and that was it. That is completely unfair. Good luck to all the venues that got the support. I imagine that there are very few that were as active and had as many eligible events as The Social in Gaoth Dobhair.”
“I welcome the scheme and that money was provided. It was announced that the scheme was open and there was a closing date for it. The only venue in County Donegal that is eligible for the scheme is The Social in Gaoth Dobhair. I will give an example and the Minister will be aware of it because all the details were provided. The Social operated 84 eligible grassroots events during the two years that the scheme was available. This means that the venue was, on average, operating one of these events every week. This is a stand-alone facility; this is not a pub. It hosted ticketed events with artists such as The Hothouse Flowers, Muireann Bradley and others from across the island of Ireland. This supported sound engineers, lighting engineers and, most importantly, the acts themselves.”
“I want to raise the issue of the criteria that were used for the grassroots music venue support scheme. I commend the Department on introducing this scheme. As a festival director, I am acutely aware of the challenges for major festivals, like our own, but also the grassroots music venue supports. The scheme was very welcome, but it is devastating to learn how the Department divvied out this money on a first-come first-served basis. Not one venue north of Galway or west of Louth got money, despite the fact that there are sound technicians, music technicians and artists playing in venues that were eligible. The whole region has been left out because of the criteria used by the Department. This needs to be examined quickly. Some of these venues need the support and I ask the Minister reconsider the decisions that have been made.”
“490,001-612,500 551,250 5. 612,501-735,000 673,750 6. - - 7. 735,001-840,000 787,500 8. 840,001-945,000 892,500 9. 945,001-1,050,000 997,500 10. 1,050,001-1,155,000 1,102,500 11. 1,155,001-1,260,000 1,207,500 12. 1,260,001-1,365,000 1,312,500 13. 1,365,001-1,470,000 1,417,500 14. 1,470,001-1,575,000 1,522,500 15. 1,575,001-1,680,000 1,627,500 16. 1,680,001-1,785,000 1,732,500 17. 1,785,001-1,890,000 1,837,500 18. 1,890,001-1,995,000 1,942,500 19. 1,995,001-2,100,000 2,047,500 ". I discussed this already in the context of the effect it would have of not pushing up prices as a compromise.”
“I move amendment No. 7: In page 5, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following: “Amendment of section 17 of Act of 2012 7. Section 17 of the Act of 2012 is amended— (a) in subsection (4), by the substitution of “0.000742” for “0.001029”, (b) in subsection (5)— (i) by the substitution of “€1,260,000” for “€1,050,000”, and (ii) by the substitution of “0.000906” for “0.001029”, (c) in subsection (6)— (i) by the substitution of “€2,100,000” for “€1,750,000” in each place where it occurs, (ii) by the substitution of “€1,260,000” for “€1,050,000”, and (iii) by the substitution of “0.000906” for “0.001029”, and (d) by the substitution of the following Table for the Table to that section: "TABLE Band (1) Valuation band (2) Mid-point of valuation band (3) 1. 1-280,000 - 2. 280,001-367,500 - 3. 367,501-490,000 424,250 4.”
“Then there are others, a huge number of them, who are forgotten by this Government and this is another issue where the Government is placing a burden on them unfairly. That will be a discussion we will continue to have. I will continue to try to increase my vote, as I am sure the Minister will try to increase his vote, and continue to win the hearts and minds on that issue and many more. The election is over. This is about fairness and where those burdens fall. The Minister did not answer the question about the vulture funds and why we do not tax their rental income. The Minister has defended that for the hilt for many years. It is completely and utterly unjustifiable. These are the options we have. I know the Government's position on this. I disagree with it and will push this amendment to a vote.”
“When one has a pension pot in excess of €2 million, one has to pay a particular tax the Minister is well familiar with and that tax was not applied properly on the portion above €2 million. The people I spoke about earlier who cannot afford this burden would notice if they got paid €280,000 more. They would notice if they got paid €30,000 more. Indeed, they would notice if they got paid €500 more. There are at least two different realities here. There are people who are well off. There are people who are comfortable, who do not like to see prices rise and who do not like to see house prices or rents rise because it is more money our of their pockets but they can afford it. It will not put them into a difficult situation.”
“There are other groups who do not notice them at all. I was at a committee earlier where the Minister for public expenditure spoke about 32 Ministers - all the Ministers in the current Government bar six - who were overpaid and none of them noticed it. Some were overpaid by up to €30,000. I am not blaming the individual Ministers because it is not their job to calculate that. Then we have 30 senior civil servants who were also overpaid, and at least one of them to the tune of €280,000, and if they did notice it, they did not tell anybody. There were 30 of them. How were they overpaid by €280,000? It was because they have pension pots in excess of €2 million.”
“That is the beauty of democracy and I respect the fact people want to look after those who are cushioned. That is fine. The Minister is entitled to do that and if there are enough people there to vote for it, that is fine. We saw a situation where in the previous election Fine Gael came third and still ended up in government. That is getting away from the point. If there is tax to be raised, where does the burden fall? I made the point earlier that there are people who will be impacted by this. The Minister may dismiss it as small amounts and so on but it adds up when it is an extra bit in one's home insurance, car insurance, groceries, heating, home heating oil and electricity. It all adds up. That is where the pressures are. There are a group of people out there who notice all of these cent and euro.”
“It is a dangerous thing to say the public was not convinced by my argument. Those are the words the Minister used. I remind the Minister that in excess of 18,000 people voted for me. The people in Donegal were fairly convinced of my arguments. I am not sure how many people voted for the Minister as a first preference but it was not at that level. I would not go into that silly type of argument because we know a multitude of arguments are put forward in terms of the electorate. To suggest the electorate did not agree with my argument, there are enough facts to show, by getting the highest vote in the State, that does not stand up to scrutiny. If the Minister is suggesting it is the party, we would have to look at the whole party apparatus and what it was and what it did and did not agree on.”
“I know the Government will decide to vote against it and that is its prerogative but, in my view, this is a tax that should be phased out. At the very least, at a time when we have an €8.4 billion surplus this year and a surplus of €6.3 billion expected next year,let us not ask people to pay more. That is within our power. I have tabled another amendment that would be a compromise and would ensure nobody pays more. Nobody would have to go up a band and nobody would have to pay more in local property tax. That is the fair thing. This tax should be ended.”
“A good idea would be to ask the vulture funds, which charge crazy rents and which the Minister facilitated over and over again through finance Bills, to pay tax on their rental income. They do not pay tax on their rental income. People out there who do some of the jobs I mentioned earlier are handing over €2,000 or €3,000 to these funds but the funds, because of their structure, do not have to pay any tax on rental income within the fund. They pay tax only when they pay off dividends, and we know all about how that can be reduced. There are numerous ways to gather that revenue; that is not the issue. The issue is the Government is wedded to this idea and that is its ideology, that is the choice people have, and I completely oppose it. I will push this to a vote and I ask the Chair to facilitate it.”