Mr. John McCarthy:

As the Deputy knows, local property tax, LPT, is collected by the Revenue Commissioners, after which the Minister for Finance moves an amount across into the Local Government Fund equivalent to whatever has been collected from the LPT. In effect, the full 100% of proceeds in 2015 are returning to local authorities. This comprises two elements: 80% of the LPT in each local authority area returns to it while the balance of 20% is used for equalisation purposes in respect of the 17 or 18 local authorities that are otherwise at a loss by virtue of the introduction of LPT.