Ms Josephine Feehily:

-----whereas in the case of local property tax, the figure is 1.62 million properties. When we look at the two databases, we can see a gap of 460,000 properties. I need to enter a caveat. The two systems were so different that merging them was not easy. We have had to do a lot of work in the past six months to remove duplicates to try to make sure we are matching properly. For example, up to about three weeks ago, I would have said there were 40,000 or 50,000 properties that we had not matched. We have got that figure down to 17,000. However, we do not have confidence in the 460,000 number because the databases were so different, as was the approach taken. That is another message we need to get out. If there are people who have paid the household charge and if, when they look at their LPT record on line - I have been getting questions about this - they see they are €200 in arrears, that means that for a variety of reasons that I can discuss with the Deputy we do not know they paid the household charge. Therefore, we do not have massive confidence in the figure of 460,000. The number is somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000 properties on which the household charge has not been paid.