Ms Lorraine O'Donoghue:

The Deputy mentioned the baseline review. That was carried out in parallel with the Department of Finance-led review of local property tax.

The group that carried out the baseline review - I was the Cathaoirleach - submitted their proposals to the Minister when the work was essentially finished. Those proposals have not yet been signed off but they have been resubmitted recently to the current political team in the Department. We await further news on local property tax changes before that baseline change can be decided upon and put in place, assuming that it would be acceptable to the Minister. As I said a moment ago, it is under review.

A number of options were looked at. The principle that underpinned the baseline review initially was that in the event of local property tax changes and additional properties coming into the LPT net, additional funding would be available for the local government system. It was about considering the best allocation of those additional funds. There were commitments in the programme for Government about moving to 100% equalisation. We will have to review that in parallel and consider how to implement all of those things at the same time.