Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 93:

93. In page 119, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following:Amendment of section 10(A) of Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012
92.The Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 is amended in section 10(A) by substituting the following subsection for subsection (3)—
"(3) Notwithstanding subsection (1) and (2) and subject to subsection (4), the Minister for the Environment Community and Local Government shall ensure in the making of regulations, that a residential property shall not, for the purposes of this Act, be regarded as a relevant residential property if a certificate has been issued in relation to it having a building condition assessment damage rating of 2, or a building condition assessment damage rating of 1 with progression; and has either been accepted by the Pyrite Remediation Board for remediation, or is in any area where the presence of pyrite has been established, regardless of whether a hardcore infill test has been carried out.".

I am moving this amendment on behalf of Deputy Clare Daly. Thankfully, pyrite is not something that affects my constituency but I am aware of the trauma many families have been put through because their houses are affected by it. This amendment seeks an exemption from the local property tax on the basis that one's house is affected by pyrite. Deputy Daly told me that the requirement on the homeowner to get a hardcore infill test is more costly than the exemption from the local property tax and she proposes, on behalf of families whose houses are affected by pyrite, that there should be a much lighter requirement on householders to prove their houses are affected by pyrite and that they should be exempted from the local property tax. She told me the Department is aware of this and is supposed to be working on it. I hope the Minister is positive in his response.