Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's reply seems to suggest he is concerned my amendment might have the result of allowing too many people avail of the exemption, and that it was in some way too broad. I will take a step back to the origin of the exemption in the first place, which was that those home owners whose property had pyrite, was dangerous, was unsellable and was valueless would not be taxed for something that was, in essence, a liability. I remind the Minister that when the exemption was introduced, Government backbenchers in the relevant constituencies went around and told residents they had obtained this exemption for them and they did not have to worry about the property tax. All we are looking for is that homes affected can avail of the exemption intended for them in the first place.

We are speaking about properties which have a certain level of damage, not category two but category one with progression, because Deputy Wallace is quite correct this means the property is valueless, and in an area where everybody knows there is pyrite. In essence, if it looks like a dog and barks like a dog, the chances are it is a dog. If the interpretation of the Pyrite Remediation Board is that if a house is damaged and in an area with pyrite, and it accepts it has pyrite for the purposes of remediation, surely to God the same criteria would apply for the purposes of exemption to the property tax? It would not be much comfort to people whose homes have been damaged to the extent that remediation will cost tens of thousands of euro, as we are speaking of an exemption that would benefit them to an amount of €1,000 over the course of the three years it will apply.

I note the point made by the Minister that the Department and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government recognise there is a problem and they are looking at alternatives. My problem is this is the response I got six months ago. I do not in any way mean this in a disrespectful or a flippant way. I very much mean it in the context of home owners who are receiving letters from Revenue at present and who are wondering how long it will take to sort this out and who think it really is not that difficult to come up with criteria. The criteria I have outlined are not quite as the Minister outlined. I state if the property has a building condition assessment rating which shows category two or category one damage, and has either been accepted by the board or is in an area where pyrite is present-----

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