Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I need to go back to the baseline issue and I apologise for harking back to this. Did Mr. Lemass say that the Minister for Finance is considering the baseline with a view to changing it? Somebody is shaking their head to indicate no.

Many local authorities are saying, and the witnesses have more or less confirmed this today, that the baseline has not been reviewed in 17 years. It was calculated in 2000. The counties that have a surplus are the ones that have grown. The 12 counties that have a surplus of local property tax, LPT, are cities or are close to Dublin, such as Wicklow, Kildare and Meath. The only ones outside that area are Kerry and Clare. The rest are city locations. The baseline needs to be recalculated urgently or some sense of transparency needs to be brought to that figure because those local authorities are suffering in trying to deliver services. Is the baseline being reviewed, and if so, when will that be done? Can we have access to the calculation made in 2000?