Neasa Hourigan (Dublin Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I put it to Dr. Collins with regard to our adherence to or recognition of that issue, which is true, that the link or motivation around LPT is a function of a weak local government system.

Local authorities do not have an ability to raise revenue in any other way. In other countries, measures such as tourist taxes and congestion charges are all available. The ability to raise revenue in many other ways is vested in local authorities abroad. Here the local authorities really only have the local property tax, which is why we sometimes see ill-advised variations. The tax represents the only power, other than the disposal of land, that councillors now have.