SINN FÉIN TD Mary Lou McDonald has criticised the government over plans to take the property tax directly from a homeowner’s bank account if they fail to pay it.

Yesterday, the Public Accounts Committee was told that Revenue will have the power to take the money at source from bank accounts as well as PAYE workers and social welfare payments.

McDonald said that at a time when one in four households are experiencing mortage distress and 65,000 local authority tenants are unable to meet the costs of their rent, the idea of taking the tax in this way is “simply wrong”.

“Government’s response to this reality is to merely defer, not exempt, property tax payments for people who have suffered a ‘significant and unexpected’ financial loss or expense,” she said. “This of course will not even be applicable to families in very real distress.”

During the committee meeting, McDonals questioned the legality of Revenue taking money directly from a bank account which she said struck her as a “real big brother measure”.

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