I raised the issue of inheritance tax in the Seanad a number of months ago and have had many conversations with people who are affected by the tax in the Dublin-Rathdown constituency in which I live. Many residents have expressed anger at the current penal inheritance tax regime and shown grave concern at the manner in which grieving families are being treated as a result.

On 25 August there was standing room only at a public meeting I organised in Mount Merrion community centre entitled, Cut the Inheritance Tax, where attendees asked for an urgent review of the tax. Ireland has one of the harshest inheritance tax regimes in the world, with Dubliners in particular heavily penalised by the tax. In 2014 Revenue collected €168.3 million in inheritance tax from Dublin-based taxpayers. This is more than 50% of the total inheritance tax of €327 million collected nationally in the year. A number of people who attended the public meeting asked for a petition to be sent to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael Noonan, to cut the rate of inheritance tax in the upcoming budget. We have effortlessly received 1,000 signatures. After I finish I will go to the Minister's office to hand him all of the signatures I have received. One woman who signed the petition gave her rationale by stating she signed it because she thought it was very unfair that people worked and saved all their lives to provide for their families and even after their death, the Government still took taxes from them and their loved ones. Another comment was that a family home should not be sold for tax payments as parents had worked hard and long and paid enough tax throughout their lives to leave their children with something at the end and that it was a complete disgrace that a home full of memories would have to be sold to pay the tax.

Senator we will be able to make submissions on the budget after the Order of Business.

I call on the Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, to address this issue immediately. This tax is wrong. It is unfair and has already been abolished in numerous countries, including Austria, Norway and Sweden, as it is deemed to be double taxation. Ireland needs to follow suit urgently.