Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First, we anticipated the Deputy would raise this issue on Committee Stage and, consequently, the information I put on the record is from a speaking note provided in consultation with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. Beyond that, I do not have relevant information. However, that Department is prepared to accept information and to advise when it receives the information. It is premature to decide whether exemptions along the lines of the pyrite exemption should be provided in law but the advice in the previous note to Deputy Boyd Barrett would apply. If the defective block structures in certain houses have decreased the value of the houses, on a self-assessment basis home owners are free to take this into account when they are submitting a valuation for their local property tax.