Property Tax Bill passed with Coalition majority of nine votes

SEANAD REPORT: The highly contentious Property Tax Bill was passed by 28 votes to 19, with a Labour member apparently dissenting. John Kelly, who had been in the House, had been paired, according to the Government side, but Fianna Fáil maintained he was not so designated by them.

Fine Gael member Jim D’Arcy did not vote but the Government whip also claimed he was paired for voting purposes. This was not borne out by the Fianna Fáil version of what had been agreed.

Assistant Government whip Aideen Hayden (Lab) said properties with more than an acre of surrounding land should be taxed accordingly where appropriate. Lands not used for business purposes such as farming, in her opinion, contributed to residential amenity and should be taxed as such. There were properties on the Hill of Howth and in Killiney that had more than one acre.

David Norris (Ind) said there had been a very unsavoury exchange between the Taoiseach and Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett in the Dáil on the property tax issue. Mr Kenny had made personal references to the deputy that lowered the Dáil’s tone.

Mr Norris said the Taoiseach planned to abolish the Seanad if he could possibly manage it, “in an attack on democracy”. He said there was a lot with which he could agree in the Bill about to be presented by John Crown (Ind) on House’s future.

However, the suggested €24,000 remuneration for senators seemed a little low, unless a member had a second occupation of a very good kind, “which I don’t”. In yesterday’s Irish Times an academic had suggested a salary of half the minimum wage. It made him think academics were so out of touch as to be off the Richter scale.

Mr Norris said he believed there would be other Private Members’ Bills from Independents relating to the future of the Seanad. These kinds of solo runs were all very fine, “but let’s get united, because if we don’t stick together and get ourselves singing from the same hymn sheet, we will be done down”.