Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and his officials for their engagement with the committee on this matter. Coming from a background in local government, my perspective is that while nobody particularly likes additional taxes, the public generally was accepting of the property tax on the basis that it would be spent locally. The Minister referred earlier to democracy at local level. Accountability at local level is even more important in terms of people seeing where the property tax is being spent. As a local public representative, I was left in no doubt that people wanted transparency in this regard. Some of them, of course, expected the money to be spent outside their front doors.

I am not talking about that. I am talking about seeing the money that is collected and that we get value for money at local authority level. That is one of the major engagements that needs to be undertaken, with accountability from the local authorities about exactly where and what the property tax is spent on.

Why is it not possible when a property gets planning permission, and a commencement or completion notice, for the property tax to be collected automatically when the person starts to build the property? We have figures for the number of houses where income could have been generated from 2013 to now had that system been in place. Does the Minister contemplate putting that type of system in place for future builds so that there is equity, and the person who owns the property pays for it?

One in eight houses in the country is vacant. Would the Minister consider where a property is left vacant for a period, for example over 12 months, that an additional property tax would be applied to encourage them back into the market?

Many people put their payment on the long finger. Is there an incentive for somebody who can afford to clear it to do so without incurring massive penalties on the deferred payment?