Brendan Ryan (Dublin North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the retention of the 9% VAT rate for tourism related industries. This has been a successful initiative by the Government to stimulate this area of the economy and its extension for a further year is important as we work our way towards recovery. I have supported the campaign for its retention for at least another year and I am glad it is included in the Bill.

The home renovation scheme is also a welcome initiative and I hope it serves to stimulate the construction industry. Another legacy of Fianna Fáil’s economic collapse is the high number of highly skilled tradespeople who are now long-term unemployed, many of whom are my friends. The home renovation scheme which is already up and running will, I hope, go some way towards stimulating this section of the economy and getting people back to work. The scheme is open only to people who are compliant with the local property tax scheme and will allow them to claim tax relief on home improvements to a maximum credit of €4,050.

One issue in the budget which caused many people to contact my office was the proposed replacement of the one parent family tax credit with a new single parent child carer credit. This proposal was a mistake and unfair and I was pleased to hear the Minister say on Tuesday that, after listening to the views of Deputies, he would bring forward an amendment to this section on Committee Stage. This amendment will allow the credit to be used by a non-primary carer in situations where the primary carer has no tax liability. I welcome this amendment and look forward to supporting it on Committee and Report Stages.

With the opportunity the passage of a Finance Bill provides, I ask the Minister to consider an important matter in the context of amendment on Committee Stage. I would like him to re-examine the position of people, predominantly apartment dwellers, who bought homes during the boom years and pay hefty annual management fees. These homeowners are also subject to the local property tax. There are many in my constituency who pay Celtic tiger mortgages on properties in negative equity and are due to pay both the local property tax and their management fees. January, for people living in apartments or managed estates, is a month of extra financial hardship. The bill for management fees can range anywhere from €800 to over €1,000. At a time when almost everybody is tightening his or her belt after Christmas and planning annual household budgets, apartment dwellers and those in managed estates have the extra bill for management fees to cope with. I accept that there are complex issues surrounding management fees, including issues to do with non-compliance.

Many families are simply unable to afford what in essence is a 13th mortgage payment in any given year. Some people refuse to pay management fees to companies who do not properly manage their estate. This leaves others in an invidious position; do they pay, knowing a sizeable proportion of their neighbours may not be paying? This is a difficult situation and has knock-on effects on people’s well-being and mental health.

Apartment owners especially have seen the value of their properties drop further than any other type of property. While house prices in Dublin and Fingal are starting to rise again, apartment prices remain pretty flat. Apartment owners, by and large, rely on management companies to manage the immediate vicinity of their home, open spaces, lighting, sewerage, potholes and grass cutting. These are some of the basic public services which will be supported by our local property tax. No matter how it is spun, apartment owners in managed estates pay the same rate of property tax as a person in an adjoining estate under the charge of the council, yet they do not receive these same basic services.

I appeal to the Minister to examine the possibility of introducing a tax credit scheme or some other instrument for those people who have paid their annual management fee. We can, in a small way, recognise the reality of the situation of those living in apartments and managed estates by allowing a percentage tax rebate or credit for those people paying management fees. This would be a relatively small concession, but it would benefit hard-pressed homeowners and, at least, give some acknowledgement to them that the Government recognises the difficulty of their particular situation.

I am asking the Minister to consider doing something in the context of this Finance Bill. I would be happy to meet with him to discuss it further at his earliest convenience, if he is so willing.

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