Martin critical of property tax move

FIANNA FÁIL THINK-IN:FIANNA FÁIL leader Micheál Martin has described the property tax proposal as the wrong plan at the wrong time and confirmed his party will oppose the incoming levy as unfair.

Mr Martin told his party’s “think-in” at Sutton in Dublin that the proposed measure would discriminate against city dwellers and challenged the Government’s contention that introducing a tax on residential property was a condition of Ireland’s EU-IMF-ECB programme.

“There is a huge question mark around the capacity of people in the squeezed middle to actually pay the kind of tax that’s being mooted by the Government,” he said.

“The Government have used the troika as a flag of convenience when it suits the Government . . . Now is not the time for the kind of property tax that the Government is proposing. We think at the moment it’s the wrong time, wrong plan,” he added.

The new tax to replace the €100 household charge will be collected by the Revenue Commissioners from next July and is expected to be pitched at 0.25 per cent of current house value.

“It will obviously discriminate more against urban dwellers, particularly in Dublin, Cork and the major cities,” said Mr Martin.

He said it was legitimate to raise the issue of ability to pay because many people were struggling with mortgage arrears and had paid large amounts in stamp duty payments during the boom years. He did not think it was possible to raise €500 million with a property tax.

He called on the Coalition to publish the expert group report, produced by former senior civil servant Don Thornhill, which has been presented to Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan.

Ahead of a motion of no confidence in Minister for Health James Reilly to be debated in the Dáil today, Mr Martin claimed Government Ministers did not support their colleague and the Opposition could not be expected to do so.

“It was clear to us at the end of August that his own colleagues in Government certainly have not confidence in him. Those in the Fine Gael party chose to leak anonymously . . . but the Labour Party Ministers have been quite clear,” said the Fianna Fáil leader.

He said Labour figures had “actually refused point blank to articulate confidence” in Dr Reilly, saying Minister of State for Primary Care Róisín Shortall had been asked on a number of occasions and she had avoided expressing confidence.

“With the lack of confidence that Minister Reilly’s own colleagues have in him, how does one expect the Opposition to have confidence in his performance to date,” asked Mr Martin.

He accused Dr Reilly of taking “avoidable decisions which are undermining health services”. The health service was being subjected to a round of “mean-spirited emergency cuts”, he said.

Meanwhile, former minister of state for children Barry Andrews has been appointed Fianna Fail’s director of elections for the upcoming childrens rights referendum. Mr Martin said amending the Constitution was always a serious issue and warned the Government people needed time to absorb complex information about the referendum. He also cautioned it was difficult to hold a referendum close to a budget.