Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

At the beginning of his contribution the Minister of State said the average price in an electoral division is accurate in most cases. This is not actually true. I have already given an example where seven out of ten cases were inaccurate in one electoral division, and I can provide the information to support this. I call on the Minister of State to provide clearer guidance to people on how they can go about self-assessment in an honest way. Will the Minister of State consider making it clear to people that the correspondence they receive from Revenue is not a bill but merely an estimate, which is likely to be inaccurate in the majority of cases?

I also call on the Minister of State to be more forthcoming about the inaccuracies in the approach of the Revenue Commissioners. Will he consider updating the property price register to provide more detail on house size and bedrooms? Will he give guidance on the percentage reductions which should be applied on house prices achieved in 2011 and 2012 given the changes in the market since then? In many cases sale prices are only available for previous years. Will he remove Revenue's recommendation to base house valuation on local asking prices? We know that very often they are way off the mark. I call on the Minister of State to request the Minister for Finance to allow for a refund where a property is mistakenly overvalued and where it subsequently emerges a person has paid too much.

They should be entitled to a refund in those circumstances.

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