EVEN with a 3 per cent increase this year and next in motor tax everybody will be better off than before the abolition of water charges, the Minister for the Environment, claimed last night.
Speaking in the Dail during the committee stage of the debate on the Local Government (Financial Provisions) Bill, Mr Howlin described the increases as "not an horrendous tax".
The Bill, which passed all stages, abolishes water charges and gives local authorities power to retain 80 per cent of the income from motor taxation to replace the loss of government funding in the rate support grant. Local authorities also have the option of increasing motor tax by 3 per cent.
Mr Noel Ahern (FF, Dublin North West) voiced the concern of local authorities in Dublin that they would have to contribute to the "equalisation" fund. The fund is intended to provide an equitable distribution of motor tax to all local authorities.
The Minister said however that "many of the councils will be required to pay into the equalisation fund" but they could also be reimbursed some of the amount.
The Fianna Fail spokesman, Mr Noel Dempsey, said he had received legal advice that a section of the Bill was "possibly unconstitutional". This allowed the Minister to make changes in the Act by regulation without consulting the Dail.
He introduced an amendment requiring the Minister to consult the Dail before making any changes. The amendment was rejected.
THE National Debt has risen by over half a billion pounds since Christmas, according to figures issued yesterday by the Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn. In a written reply to Mr Noel Ahern (FF, Dublin North West), the Minister said the national debt was £29,912 million on December 31st, 1996. By April 30th this year it had risen to £30,496 million, an increase of £584 million.
SIXTY FIVE people donated organs last year but there were an average of 76 organ donations for each of the previous three years. However, the Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, said that 36 people had donated organs so far this year, more than double the 16 donations for the same four months last year.
There was an annual average of 25 heart and heart lung donations in the four years from 1993 to 1996, and 10 donations so far this year.
In reply to Mr Desmond O'Malley (PD, Limerick East) the Minister said that an average of 13.5 heart transplants was carried out annually in the same four year period, while in 1996 there were 10 such transplants.
HEALTH boards received 6,415 reports of child abuse in 1995, and 2,276 of those were confirmed, the Minister of State for Health, Mr Austin Currie, said in a written reply to Ms Kathleen Lynch (DL, Cork North Central).
The number of reported abuses has risen by 2,559 since 1991 from 3,856 while the number of confirmed reports of child abuse rose by 811 from 1,465 in 1991 to 2,276 in 1995, the last year for which complete figures are available.
CHILDREN with paediatric heart disease face a waiting time of one year for an appointment at the outpatient clinic in Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, the national referral centre for the disease, the Minister for Health said in a written reply to Mr Eric Byrne (DL, Dublin South Central).
Mr Noonan said that he was "concerned about the waiting time for this outpatient service". He added that the Department had asked the hospital to put forward proposals to address the current waiting times.