No one would deny the difficulty that the Government has in making the cuts and balancing the budget in the current situation. The problem, as enunciated by two previous speakers, is that no adequate explanations have been given for the cuts being proposed. I refer not only to the cuts in the health service, which several speakers have addressed, but there seems to be a competing appetite for austerity among some of the Taoiseach's Ministers, competing on a daily basis to target sections of the population who cannot afford to pay for those cuts. I refer particularly to the recent decision - in respect of which the House deserves an explanation - not only to tax property owners but to tackle pensioners as though they are particularly well off.

Property tax is something the Taoiseach is asking middle Ireland to pay when middle Ireland has paid enough. Middle and lower income citizens will be asked to pay sums they cannot afford. Property tax will affect people from Dublin and lower income people disproportionately. Property tax will affect people in negative equity and in that case it will be, in effect, a tax on liabilities. It will also discriminate against people who have already paid large amounts of stamp duty. Middle Ireland cannot understand how it is being asked for more when many have not even paid the household charge. The time for a property tax to be introduced was in 2005 to 2007. I would like the Taoiseach to comment on this. That was the time when there was a-----

Order, please.

Was the Deputy advocating that in the Sunday Independent?

Could Deputy Ross frame his question?

Yes. I am coming to the question.

The time for that was when the furnace was burning not now when the Taoiseach is trying to extract some oxygen from the ashes.

Why can the Taoiseach not go back to the troika which is demanding a property tax, and with whom it has agreement, and tell it about the report last week from the IMF? The Taoiseach will have read it. The IMF said that growth rates in this country will be down by almost half its projections for this year - from 0.7% to 0.4% and that growth rates next year will be down from 2.4% to 1.4%. What it is saying is that we cannot afford to pay, based on the assumptions set out in the bailout. Could the Taoiseach not go back to the troika and tell it that by the IMF's own criterion we cannot impose these sorts of taxes on middle Ireland because it will not be able to pay them?

I have often given the Deputy credit for his extensive knowledge of-----

Middle Ireland.

It is no laughing matter.

-----the broad world of economics but he said that the time to introduce a property tax was in 2005 or 2007. The Deputy realises that if a property tax was introduced in those years with house values the way they were, the level of such a tax would have been extraordinary when people were paying €1 million for end of terrace houses and multiples of millions for houses in the greater Dublin area and places around the country.

You did not think of that one. It depends on how much one charges.

Deputy Ross should be clear on this. The following is the situation in so far as a property tax is concerned. A property tax will be introduced.

A family home tax.

The Government made a decision that the Revenue Commissioners would design the process and the mechanics of how that would apply. A property tax will apply from 1 July next year. The Minister for Finance ruled out implementing a property tax in the way and at the level that the IMF recently reported, as 0.5% of market value.

It has not been brought to Government yet.

The situation is that anything outside that is entirely speculative. The Government has not considered the Thornhill report in detail, it will do so collectively and will make a decision on that.

It takes the Minister three months.

When I joined the county council many years ago, people paid for water and refuse services and they paid rates. Surely in Deputy Ross's constituency in Dublin, he recognises that year after year commercial ratepayers were completely squeezed and have come to the point where many of them, with the downturn in retail activity, have not been able to draw anything from their business for quite some time. The requirement here is to broaden the tax base by having an equitable and affordable property tax. That is the question that the Government will decide on in due course.

So you are not the one who said it was a vampire tax.

Order please. I have called Deputy Shane Ross.

Could we have order please?

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. The Taoiseach said that any comment on this was speculative. Does that include his own statement that it would raise €500 million, which he is on record as saying?

Which he has not decided.

Does that include the fact that the Minister for Finance has already said that it would not be 0.5%?

Which he has not decided.

Does that include other statements from members of the Government about it coming in? What is happening here is a softening up process.

Yes.

The Government is leaking stuff to the press left, right and centre. It is appearing all the time. It is making statements on the record as well-----

We would not dream of it.

-----to soften people up and then saying-----

-----that this is speculative. What is happening here is that the middle classes and the lower paid are being prepared for another blow which they cannot pay. Would the Taoiseach therefore give some comfort to those in negative equity that they will not have to pay property tax? Will he give some comfort to house owners in Dublin that they will not have to pay a disproportionate amount based on the value of their houses? Will he give some comfort to those on low incomes that they will not have to pay the same amount as those on higher incomes, and will he give some comfort to any other person in a vulnerable position who will not be able to pay that tax?

Hear, hear.

What the Deputy is engaged in is a box ticking exercise to rule out or rule in certain references to the property tax so that he can narrow the field, as it were.

Kicking the can down the road.

I will repeat for the Deputy the concrete decisions that have been made. There will be a property tax. The Revenue Commissioners have been asked to design the mechanics of that scheme. It will apply from 1 July next year.

In respect of people being frightened, the IMF report which was published was ruled out by the Minister for Finance in so far as the implementation of its reference to a property tax as 0.5% was concerned. Anything else outside those concrete decisions is speculative. I have seen one newspaper indicate that a decision was made that the rate would be at a certain level. All of these things are speculative. The one that is ruled out in terms of rate of tax is 0.5% of market value.

Let us be clear on this. The Government will consider the recommendations from the Minister in respect of the Thornhill report in due course and Government will reflect on that very carefully. We would like that the property tax to be introduced would be as fair and as affordable as possible.

That concludes Leaders' Questions. Does the Taoiseach wish to make a statement?

Will I do it now or on the Order of Business?

Is the House agreed that it be made now? Agreed.