Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

While I acknowledge some local authorities reduced the local property tax, it does not come without a cost. As the Deputy knows, reducing it reduces the budget available for delivering front-line services such as services for the homeless that we wish to prioritise. It is a matter for local authorities to prioritise what they feel the local property tax should be spent on. I will say no more on that: it is a matter for local authorities.

However, as I have already stated, I am precluded from commenting on the proposals of any individual housing authority on the rents they charge for their tenanted accommodation. The reality is that local authorities have to pay their local property tax liability for their residential properties and housing stock. It is a matter for each local authority to decide in the context of financing its overall operations how it will meet this local property tax liability and whether it should recoup some or all of the cost of the local property tax from its tenants. Striking the appropriate balance in this matter is a key function of local authority management and I do not propose to second-guess individual local authorities on the decisions they make in this regard.

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