Ms Anne Marie Walshe:

On local government funding, LPT is designed to be a stable source of funding. Whether it is the main funding source is more a matter for my colleagues in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. There is a range of other income sources for councils, as the committee is well aware. I cannot comment any further on that question.

As I explained, the difficulty in moving to the 100% local retention earlier than 2023 is that we need clear visibility of the 2022 yield, following the revaluation and the bringing in of new properties into the tax. Our understanding is that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and their Departments will work to bring that in as part of the 2023 and 2024 budgetary process. Any shortfall for local authorities is to be met from Exchequer funding. As outlined earlier, I cannot comment any further on that matter.

We estimate that just over 100,000 additional properties will be brought into the charge for LPT following revaluation.

The Deputy also asked about exemptions. Our starting point is always that the number of exemptions will be kept as limited as possible to make it fair for those who are paying the tax. The more people who are exempted, the more the people who are paying have to pay. That is our starting point in considering any additional exemptions. There is no case being made at the moment for further exemptions.