Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, have serious reservations about the property tax. I highlighted the case of being asked to put a value on a farmhouse. The farmhouse could be located in the centre of the family farm and alongside sheds. How can someone realistically put a value on the property? While the house is a home to the family living in it, who else would want to purchase a house in the middle of a working farm? To me, the house is worthless on the open market. Who would want to be listening to cows roaring in the middle of the night without owning the cows? It is bad enough to have to go out to them when one owns them but one does not want to have to listen to someone else's cows. The farmyard activity that goes on in the yard ensures those houses are not saleable items on the open market. Therefore, they have no market value because no one would want them so those people should not be paying any tax. However, that has not been highlighted.

I know Deputies in the Chamber and other people, who are unfortunately not here, put up a great battle on the pyrite issue. I am delighted they won their battle. What about people suffering from radon? Why is there no exemption for them? On the pyrite issue, plenty Deputies were representing large amounts of people. They got a large weight going behind them. I am delighted they did and I compliment every one of them.

They all know who they are. Why did we not get a weight going behind us on the radon issue? The reason is that the people who have radon in their houses predominantly live in the countryside where limestone and naturally occurring features lead to their houses becoming poisoned by this gas. People have died in their homes, yet we are still going to charge them a property tax. It makes no sense. If people with pyrite-----

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