Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

As the Minister of State is aware, next year local authorities will receive 80% of the local property tax raised in their area, most of which will be raised in Dublin. It is estimated that Dublin City Council will receive about €60 million from a yield of €80 million from property tax in the city area alone. That is ten times more than will be paid in Louth, where approximately €8 million will be paid in property tax. Dublin will get €2.6 million from the Local Government Fund, while Louth will get €8 million. This can hardly be considered as fair.

Of the €80 million to be raised, some €60 million of the Dublin City Council home owners' tax will subsidise local authorities that do not raise enough in their own areas. I have no problem with a centralised fund and an equalisation mechanism, as long as all counties are treated similarly, equally and fairly. To date, however, the four Dublin local authorities have not been treated thus. There has been great discrimination against the four Dublin local authority areas.

There has been much media speculation that grants paid to councils, and especially the four city authorities, will be slashed. Given the fact that we will pay so much property tax, an amount of money will be kept within those authorities. The Government will then slash local grants, taking with one hand and giving nothing back. Approximately €52 million is paid from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to Dublin City Council alone, not to mention the three other Dublin local authorities. That pays for house building programmes, adaptation grants and homelessness subsidies. In the middle of a housing crisis we cannot reduce any money to the homeless sector or for house building within the Dublin area.

If the Minister of State is still in that position next week or if he is elevated to a more senior position-----

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