Will a proposal be forthcoming from the Government to amend the valuation Bill? I am conscious of the global valuation in recent weeks, under which process a reduction in the rates applicable to large utilities such as the ESB, eircom and Bord Gáis Energy was provided for, with a continuance of the policy not to apply rates to Irish Water, despite the fact that €11 billion worth of assets had been transferred to it. Is the Tánaiste aware that as a result of this many local authorities may be forced to withdraw from the process of agreeing to a budget? The Government has directed all local authorities to agree to a budget, regardless of whether this requires them to increase property taxes or commercial rates, despite the fact that there was a commitment from the Government to overhaul the commercial rates system. This means the same old people are being asked to foot the bill.

The same old people are at it again.

The same applies in Longford, Dublin or anywhere else. The global valuation ranges throughout the country from €200,000 to €800,000. I have letters in my office from my local authority which set out, for example, that disabled person's grant applications will not be dealt with for the next three to five years.

That is a different issue.

The Tánaiste spoke about people participating in their communities and elderly people being in a position-----

That is what happens when a country goes bust.

This has nothing to do with the economy going bust. The Government has had almost five years to correct the public finances and local authorities have-----

We have put 2 million people back to work.

Has legislation been promised?

Will legislation, in the context of an amendment to the valuation Bill, be introduced, given that the Government may well be faced with the prospect of many local authorities having to withdraw from the budgetary process because of the imposition being made on them to impose additional charges on commercial ratepayers or hike up property taxes, in respect of which they will be required to meet any deficit in their budgets?

The Deputy's brother, Brian Cowen, when Minister for Finance, brought forward the valuation review proposals which had been legislated for-----

In five years the Government has completed only 20% of valuations.

During the late Brian Lenihan's-----

The Tánaiste can quote Brian Cowen and anyone else if she wants to-----

The Tánaiste has the floor and should be allowed to speak.

I will not reply until Deputy Cowen is willing to listen.

The Tánaiste can personalise it all she likes but-----

The Deputy's party was the architect of this particular legislation. That is the fact of the matter.

Deputy Cowen should not be such a bully.

The current regime was legislated for by the late and greatly regretted Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan. Deputy Cowen knows as well as I do that proposals in different counties - he mentioned Dublin and Longford - are all dealt with in exactly the same way, which is on a revenue-neutral basis.

What about the central government allocation?

That has been going on in different areas around the country. In addition, local authorities, because they now have significant revenues from the property tax, for instance, have decisions to make about the level of funding under different headings.

The Tánaiste is showing herself to be more deluded with each successive statement.

There are currently no proposals to introduce a new valuations Bill, if that is what the Deputy is proposing.

Will the Tánaiste answer the question?

The existing legislation was introduced by Fianna Fáil in government.

The Tánaiste is a waste of space.

The Deputies opposite gave out about the revaluations that were carried out.

The Labour Party does not have to worry about this issue because it has so few councillors.