Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I put my concerns on record when the amending legislation was going through. These included the issue of people who have paid stamp duty. People will be paying property tax on a debt. The Government did not take account of a person's ability to pay and there is a lack of meaningful local government reform.

I am being asked time and again what one gets for the property tax. Expectations are being heightened, including tonight. The tax will be doubled next year. In 2009, the local government fund accounted for €999 million, at its height. This has reduced by €535 million. When one considers commercial rates, water charges and other charges, one realises that the €500 million that the property tax is estimated to yield in a full year will just replace what has been removed at national level, essentially to pay the interest on a national debt that was not, in the main, of our making. When one considers this in the context of the way that the needs-and-resources model functions in respect of how the money will be distributed at local government level, one realises there will be really serious problems next year. People will be rightly asking what they are receiving for the property tax. There will be nothing visible for what they are paying. The notion that the tax will fund parks, playgrounds and all the other facilities that were mentioned tonight is just a fantasy.

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