Next week the Government will introduce a budget in which it will heap additional hardship on low and middle income families throughout the State.

Will the Deputy circulate his script?

At the centre of the budget-----

Out, out, out.

Please, Deputies.

Next week the Government will introduce a budget-----

This is live on television. Will Deputies, please, give some example to the rest of the community watching?

For the third time, next week the Government will introduce a budget which will impact heavily on those on low and middle incomes. A central part of the budget proposals will be a property tax, a charge on the family home. We know that many people will simply be unable to afford to pay this charge.

It will be like being in Belfast.

Last week the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, indicated or announced to me in a reply to a parliamentary question that 13 Ministers had claimed a second home tax break known as the dual abode allowance. The Taoiseach will be aware that this tax break is exclusively for Ministers and officeholders. Those from outside Dublin are allowed to write off €6,500 against their income tax bill if they have a second home in Dublin without having to provide a single receipt. If they do not have a second home in Dublin and stay in a hotel, they can write off against their income tax bill €3,500 for having their laundry done and without having to provide a single receipt.

Absolutely not.

When the Taoiseach was in opposition and Deputy Micheál Martin and his gang were availing of this lavish tax break, the Taoiseach promised to abolish it. Since he has taken office, far from abolishing it, we have seen the cost increase by 30% to €112,000.

Will the Deputy, please, put his question?

Is the Taoiseach one of the 13 Ministers availing of this tax break? Which of his ministerial colleagues are availing of it? How can he justify it to people at home who fear the introduction of the Government's property tax on their family home when 13 of his Cabinet colleagues are writing off against their income tax bill the cost of a second home in Dublin?

The fact of the matter is that the Deputy claims the overnight allowances to which he is entitled. They are a multiple of what any Minister who does not receive overnight allowances would claim. Most Ministers are in Dublin four or five nights a week, depending on their schedule or duties. The matters mentioned by the Deputy are part of what the Government is considering in respect of the budget which, as he is aware, that will be presented by the Minister for Finance next week.

First, this is not an allowance. Ministers must write to the Revenue Commissioners to ask that their income tax bill be written down by an amount that can be up to €6,500 in unvouched expenses.

No.

I will outline what it includes.

I am sorry, Deputy, this is Leaders' Questions. Will the Deputy, please, put a question?

This is my question. If a Minister decides to buy a house in Dublin, all of the mortgage interest will be written off against his or her income tax bill. His or her solicitor's fees will be written off against his or her income tax bill.

Will the Deputy, please, put his question?

His or her auctioneer's fees will be written off against his or her income tax bill. No one knows whether the Taoiseach is one of the 13 Ministers who have availed of this tax break. How many Ministers have availed of the €3,500 deduction for the purposes of having their laundry done because they stay in a hotel or guesthouse? The people deserve clarity and openness.

The Deputy claims expenses.

All of the expenses paid to Deputies are published on the Oireachtas website. At this point no one knows the 13 Ministers who are reducing their income tax bill by this scheme which the Taoiseach when in opposition promised to abolish when the other gang was availing of it.

I will not ask the Deputy again. Will he, please, stay quiet and stop shouting across the House? It is ridiculous. No one can hear what is going on. Will the Taoiseach try to reply, please?

Deputy Pearse Doherty has made a statement. Ministers are entitled to an allowance of €6,000 which they can claim at the 41% tax rate, which works out at approximately €3,500. As a rural Member, the Deputy is in a position to claim approximately €30,000 or more, depending on what his overnight allowance figures are.

It is more than that.

No Deputy is allowed to reduce his or her income tax bill.

I do not know what Deputy Martin Ferris is claiming, but Deputy Pearse Doherty is referring to two very different things.

Perhaps the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, is availing of it.

I call Deputy Thomas Pringle.

Hands up those who are availing of it.