Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 95 has been put down as a marker. Our party is committed to abolishing the local property tax and reintroducing the non-principal private resident charge at a rate of €400 per annum.

It is a statement of our intent. This is something that we believe should be done. I do not expect the Government to agree to it but it has been tabled. I will also speak to Deputy Boyd Barrett's amendment, the substance of which I agree with. I would also suggest that the issue which has not been dealt with is that of properties that have been damaged by what is called mica, where there has been block damage to houses. It is prevalent in Donegal and other areas where buildings cannot be insured and they may need to be knocked down. That also needs to be considered in the exemption from the local property tax. I would be interested to hear the Minister's suggestion on this. I signal an intention to bring forward an amendment on this matter on Report Stage.