Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Councillor McGinley for his presentation this morning. I go back a bit in time to my attendance at the launch of the "Putting People First" document at Dublin Castle. I was intrigued by it because I thought power was being given back to local authorities. I thought councillors were being given the power to make the decisions and to spend the money. I have to give Phil Hogan credit for selling this tax very well. He sold it as a new income stream for local authorities but did not quite tell the public that it was replacing the local government fund. That was the first annoying thing.

When one goes through the process, one realises that one loses 20% for the equalisation fund. The one thing that was probably not mentioned in the discussion here so far is the hugely disappointing fact that the baseline figure has not been renewed in most local authorities for over 20 years. While we can agree or disagree on the 20% equalisation fund, in the third year of it in my county, the stronger areas were trying to keep their property tax. Whether we like it or not, there is a benefit in the equalisation fund where the strong can help to support the weak. If we had done that in Wicklow, Greystones would have had a song and a dance every night of the week while other parts of the county suffered. We can justify the equalisation fund from that point of view. My argument is about the baseline. Counties in which the population has grown to a huge extent have not seen an acknowledgement and accounting for that. Additional services are required to keep pace with that growth in population. The argument for local authorities should be on the baseline figure. We need to put up a very strong argument for a comprehensive review, which is where we can get the money back in to allow local democracy to work in relation to spending decisions.

In County Wicklow 50% of our money is gone through equalisation and because of the baseline. The figure is probably even higher in Dublin City Council. The discretionary fund is just a joke that we are leaving for councillors. I notice that in a number of contributions it was said we should move towards having a council tax. Perhaps that is the way we should go. If we move back to property valuations, it was a blunt tax based purely on property values. In my area I know low income families who are located in a very scenic part of County Wicklow. Their properties have a huge value but their incomes are low. Their ability to pay has to be taken into account. Equally, I am concerned that when we look at the way the commercial rates system works, one can go 20 to 30 years without a revaluation and then be hit with a huge increase. We are beginning to go down the same road, unless there is some revaluation now, rather than kicking the can down the road. We cannot just go for a property-based revaluation, as otherwise people will be hit with increases of 100% or 200% in their property tax, with no services coming with them.