Ms Josephine Feehily:

Just to get into the numbers for a second, I think the 15% estimated by the Department of Finance was for exemptions and deferrals, which is why I presented them together. I am not comfortable that it will stay as low as 3% because of all of the work items we have to work through. I want to put extra caveats on all of these numbers. For example, when we get the social housing numbers, we may discover issues there. We also know, for example, that the stock-in-trade properties, numbering around 40,000, are all exempt. That proportion will grow a bit and I wish to make that very clear. I would not be adding these figures too precisely at this point and I have tried to signal that all along.

There are a couple of other issues that must be considered when one is thinking about the money. The Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Act allowed local authorities to defer payment until next year. That could affect the money. They may choose to pay it this year and we are in discussions with them on that issue but the legislation allows them not to pay this year's money until next year. In that context, I do not know if there will be an extra €70 million this year.

When I was discussing the estimates with Deputy McGrath earlier, again with 16 caveats all round them, I said that about 35% of returns were lower than the Revenue estimate, about 15% were higher and the remainder were the same. That is what one would expect in an average situation.