Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will speak briefly about two aspects of this measure. The first matter I would like to raise, which I have highlighted previously but is not covered in the Bill, is the need to recognise that a large majority of people paid vast amounts of stamp duty over the last ten years. I appreciate from the correspondence I have had with the Minister that the expert report devised the property tax on the basis of ability to pay. I am being genuine and honest here. I am representing my constituents in the commuter belt districts of Meath East. I will mention the town I live in as an example.

About eight towns in south Meath are in the same position. The village I live in had 800 people living it in ten years ago. Today, it has 10,000 people. Ashbourne has 11,000, Dunboyne has 10,000 and Dunshaughlin has 8,000. All of those people moved in to the newly built houses in those towns and villages in the past five to ten years and paid serious amounts of stamp duty. Yes, they are in negative equity and might have the ability to just about pay the property tax but some recognition of the contribution they have already made to the State would go a long way in winning over the hearts and minds of those people regarding the merits of a property tax as a sustainable tax to fulfil and fund our local services on an ongoing basis. I ask the Minister to reconsider that.

Section 3 is the real reason I wanted to speak. I was gutted when I read it. The people we are representing come from five or six counties. When the Minister mentioned during the debate on the budget before Christmas that he would recognise, acknowledge and assist people facing the stress of living in a pyrite-damaged home or in an estate with known pyrite, it lifted a significant burden off those people. Coupled with the establishment of the Pyrite Resolution Board, all the hard work done by my late colleague, Shane McEntee, and the Minister was warming up to the nice package whereby people would genuinely be assisted by this Government. The restrictions in this Bill send out the wrong message and one that we do not want or are trying not to send. I am not blaming the Department of Finance. I think it stems from the terms and conditions devised in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government whereby those affected and who will be assisted by the Department were broken down into the categories of red, orange and green. The red category denoted significant pyrite damage. This has been brought forward and included in the wording of this Bill. All we are proposing to do is give a three-year deferral or exemption clause to those with significant pyrite damage as if they were the only people currently being addressed by the Pyrite Resolution Board. They fall into category two, which is fine and dandy, and most of them probably have their NSAI certifications and will be looked after with regard to the exemption in the property tax Bill. However, people in category one and those who have not yet been categorised are living with the same, if not greater, level of stress than those who have already been certified and are probably en route to being fast-tracked to remediation by the newly appointed Pyrite Resolution Board. I ask the Minister to consider broadening and amending this clause.

The total number of homes of people in categories one and two and those who are uncategorised has been estimated to be around 10,000. These people are living under significant amounts of stress. A family with whom I am in constant contact is in category one and, therefore, excluded from the current exemption. They have damage to their home. They put their two children to bed every night fearing that the gas pipes running through rather than around their home could shift and explode. Yet we have put them in the orange category because they do not have significant pyrite damage to their home. The damage to their mental health, physical well-being and family could not be quantified in money but the message we are sending out is not the message this Government is trying to deliver. We are desperately trying to deliver remediation to those 10,000 homes. I do not think the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government would have done what he did and the former Minister of State, Shane McEntee, would have worked as hard as he did for the past five years if we did not have the sincere will to help these people.

I ask the Minister to reword this provision. The people we are talking about are living in homes that are worthless. But for the fact that there is obviously a residual value on their homes from a banking perspective, these people would be paying zero stamp duty regardless of whether they had damage to their houses. I do not believe this Government believes the parents and children living in those homes are worthless. I sincerely ask the Minister to revise this provision and include those 10,000 houses that have been identified by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government in those eligible for an exemption under this Bill. It is only for three years in the worst case scenario and that number will decrease very quickly because of the speed of the Pyrite Resolution Board's work and the actions it will take in a very short space of time so those people should probably come back into the loop much sooner rather than later. I urge the Minister to have a look at this again and thank him for his consideration.

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