Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to be clear that someone who has seen a significant rise in the value of his or her property in an affluent part of the country may not have access to liquid cash to pay extra bills. He or she may be in a very difficult situation. Ability to pay has to be a factor regardless of the fact that some people happen to have seen a massive increase in their property values. The Minister notes that 20% of local property tax is centralised. Is this something the Government should reconsider? It is not very genuine to call it a local property tax if 20% goes back to the Central Fund to be spent wherever the Government decides.

In a local authority such as Mayo, elected members do not really have the ability to vary the LPT 15% up or down because if there is a gap left - if they vary it downwards - that gap will not be filled by central Government. A local authority with extra resources that is doing very well, is in surplus and has extra funds is better able to give back to its citizens. Such a local authority can vary its LPT and see no negative impact on the provision of services but in a less wealthy area of the country such as parts of rural Ireland, there is no ability to vary the LPT because a hole will be left in the local authority's finances. These are probably the same local authorities that are already cash strapped. I have seen nothing in what is proposed by the Minister that seeks to address that significant imbalance across the regions, particularly in parts of rural Ireland where the provision of services is far less than people would receive in other parts of the country. The message I get back loud and clear is that the LPT is not a fair tax, that it does not stay local and that people have not seen an improvement in their local services. The Government will consistently get push back until those issues are addressed.