Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Finance (Local Property Tax Repeal) Bill 2013 sponsored by Sinn Féin. For a matter of such importance as the operation of revenue collection in the State and the funding of local government, the Bill is extraordinarily lacking in detail. The immediate implementation of the legislation, which is presumably what Sinn Féin is calling for, would leave a €250 million black hole in the public finances this year and that must be central to the debate on the Bill. Fianna Fáil will support the Second Stage passage of the Bill so that we can finally have a proper debate on Committee Stage on the local property tax.

When the local property tax legislation was brought forward last December, Fianna Fáil opposed it on five key grounds - the unresolved mortgage arrears crisis, which continues to grow; the inadequate provisions for people with inability to pay the tax; the fact that large numbers of people have no equity in their home or are in serious negative equity; the moribund state of the housing market that shows no sign of recovery, particularly outside Dublin; and the large upfront property taxes that had been paid by many people in the form of stamp duty in the past decade. In the end, we never got to have meaningful debate on the amendments I and other Deputies put forward as the Government, not once but twice, guillotined debate on the local property tax.

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