Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The chairperson of the Dublin City Council finance committee and a number of other councillors have confirmed that there is no doubt that if the property tax is imposed on local authority housing in Dublin City Council, it will be passed on in the form of rent to local authority tenants. The same report was given by council officials in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council at pre-budget meetings and was, I believe, confirmed again at a meeting last night. We need clarity on the issue. If rent increases are to be imposed on local authority tenants, it makes a mockery of the claim that this is a property tax as the Minister suggested - it is not. It will mean an extra burden on people who do not own property.

Can the Minister confirm that a special committee has been established between the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Finance and the County and City Managers Association? What is the status of discussions and deliberations among that group on this issue as to whether the full cost of the property tax will be imposed on local authority tenants' rents and what that burden is likely to be?

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