SEANAD REPORT:THE GREEN Party seemed to favour the reintroduction of rates on all residential properties, John Paul Phelan (FG) said.
The deputy Government leader in the House, Dan Boyle (GP), had said loudly and clearly that the tax announced in the Budget on second properties would be used in the future to fund local government, he noted. He had stated that he wanted it to be underpinned by a rateable valuation. In other words, he wanted the reintroduction of rates - albeit for the present on second homes - with the proceeds being used to fund local government.
Mr Phelan was speaking in the debate on the Motor Vehicle (Duties and Licences) Bill, which passed all stages.
David Norris asked Seanad leader Donie Cassidy to find out as soon as possible what was meant by "vicariously liable" in relation to the background note, issued from the Department of Justice, which had confirmed that the Minister and the Irish Prison Service "were vicariously liable for the unauthorised release" of confidential information concerning a former prison chaplain.
Was this a legal term? Mr Norris asked. "Does it have any validity, or is it an attempt to evade responsibility?" The secretary general of the department was not making any statement at this stage. "I believe he should."
Responding to a query by cathaoirleach Pat Moylan, Mr Norris said he was quoting from reports in The Irish Times.
Joe O'Toole (Ind): "The paper of record."
Mr Norris: "We are told that a Roman Catholic bishop, on foot of this illegally distributed information, fired the prison chaplain. He was a quasi-employer of the priest. What is a quasi-employer? Can we have a definition from the leader of the two terms I mentioned?"
Mr Cassidy undertook to make inquiries.