Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Councillor McGinley, the Chairman and Senator Boyhan mentioned the following. In terms of the timing of the decision of the property tax in early October or whenever, while Dublin City Council and most of the Dublin authorities are in a position to give a 15% or whatever discount, other counties struggle at that time. It is when one is trying to decide how much of a discount should be applied to the local property tax or whether to raise it that one should identify the budget. Some political parties have run away from making a decision and took the easy option of calling for a decrease. The people who make the tough decision are left to carry the can even though the budget process is not for another five or six weeks. When it comes to the budget process, it is the people who earlier voted against the property tax that want to spend it. Do the witnesses believe we can harmonise the process? Do they believe the processes should become one process?