I call Deputy Higgins.

Yesterday yet another tax for Dublin city was highlighted, this time a fire tax. A call-out charge of €400 was set for the owner of a car that might, unfortunately, go on fire, or perhaps even be stolen and set on fire by vandals, or on work or business premises fires. Will the Taoiseach agree that anything that might cause somebody to hesitate to call the fire brigade, as the fire tax will, is reckless and irresponsible? Does he agree that it may cost lives, lead to damage to property—

We pay it down the country all the time.

—and should be prohibited?

We pay the tax in the country.

Allow Deputy Higgins to speak without interruption, please.

There is a small fire burning behind the Taoiseach but I will put it out in a minute. Does the Taoiseach agree that fire tax carries the regime of local and parallel taxation, driven by his Government, to an extreme degree? Does he acknowledge that double taxation, taxation by stealth, has become an intolerable burden on working people under his leadership? Bin taxes are as much as €350 in many local authority areas and are a potential €520 per year in the extreme case of Sligo. The Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Cullen, is considering bullyboy legislative tactics to force boycotting households to pay, but that will not work.

It is because people like the Deputy will not make a decision.

The Taoiseach has slapped fees of €700 on students trying to get third level education. Local authorities have sharply increased rents for tenants in many cases. Families and friends of the sick have to pay a tax on their visits to an increasing number of hospitals as a result of the imposition of car parking charges.

Has the Deputy a question?

In 2003, the Government will hand €1,000 million to big business in corporation tax reductions. When will the regime of double taxation end?

The Deputy's two minutes have concluded.

Where will the Government draw the line? Will it continue dishonestly to allow the parallel tier of local taxation and taxation by stealth? On budget day, the Minister for Finance dishonestly pretended that he was doing PAYE workers a favour by not increasing taxes, but he has got them every other way.

Expenditure relating to the operation of the fire services is a matter for local authorities in the context of the determination of their annual budgets. The Minister for the Environment and Local Government has no function whatever in the matter. Under the Fire Services Act 1981, a fire authority is entitled to charge users or beneficiaries of a fire service for the services it provides. Each of the 33 fire authorities must decide whether to charge fees for fire services. I understand that many local authorities have charged such fees for many years. Information supplied by fire authorities indicates that most charge for attendance at fires and other emergencies, and such charges vary from authority to authority. Over the years, local authorities have endeavoured to use the charge as a deterrent, to encourage people to take safety measures to prevent chimney fires etc. – I do not refer to accidental fires. Fire authorities have been advised that while the decision to charge is a matter for them, the imposition of charges should not deter anyone from calling a brigade to a fire, no matter how small, or any other emergency. Charges should be kept under review in light of experience. The position I have outlined has been the case since the enactment of the 1981 Act.

If I believed in reincarnation, I would say that the Taoiseach had a previous life as a spider, as he weaves webs of words behind which to hide.

I have given the facts.

The Deputy does not want to listen to the facts.

The Taoiseach has not answered the key question I put to him.

He has explained the 1981 Act.

Perhaps the Taoiseach is also Pontius Pilate—

The Deputy is not bad at coming up with clichés.

—because he wants to divest his personal responsibility onto every other agency.

It is the law.

The Taoiseach is the Prime Minister of this country and is responsible for legislation—

Deputy Higgins wants to pay for nothing.

Allow Deputy Higgins to speak without interruption, please.

—and the legislative regime that allows stealth taxes, which are not usually on wealth, to be imposed on ordinary working people. Such taxes are the responsibility of the Taoiseach and he has the power to stop them.

Bluff.

Will the Taoiseach allow this imposition to continue, causing growing hardship to ordinary working people and poor people?

The Deputy knows that ordinary people pay less taxes, work more and receive better benefits as a result of the actions of this Government and its predecessor.

Hear, hear.

As I pointed out to the Deputy – he did not seem to understand, but I will say it again – a fire authority is entitled, under section 35(3) of the Fire Services Act 1981, to charge users and beneficiaries of a fire service for the services it provides. I hope that is clear. Many local authorities have imposed the charge since the Act was introduced 22 years ago.

What about the other charges?

The Deputy asked about fire charges.

I asked about many other charges.

Allow the Taoiseach to conclude.

Deputy Higgins is beaten.

For the information of Deputy Higgins, the Government's level of capital grants to the fire services increased significantly in recent years. Expenditure on the fire services has been virtually doubled – over €66 million has been provided. Over 130 new appliances were approved in the past five years, representing almost half of the front-line appliances fleet nationally. It is obvious that the fire service is improving. I reiterate that everybody, regardless of whether they have been paying the fire charge for 20 years, should contact the fire services in the case of an emergency. Local authorities were told to keep this aspect of the matter under review.