Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Daly, and I know she has raised the issue on several occasions because I have been here when the Minister of Finance has discussed it with her. I am aware of the issues that the Deputy is attempting to address with her proposed amendment. At the outset, I acknowledge the stressful situations that individuals face when building works are not completed to the required acceptable standard. I also accept that defects that manifest after completion and are not resolved have a significant impact on the lives of those affected. As the Minister has advised on many occasions in the past, a liability to local property tax should apply to all owners of residential property, with a limited number of exemptions. Limiting the exemptions available allows the rate to be kept low for those liable persons who do not qualify for an exemption.

It was made clear during the passage of the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Act 2013 that the exemption being provided at the time for homes affected by pyrite would be restricted to properties with significant pyritic damage and that not all damaged properties would be able to avail of the exemption. Regulations made by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government relating to testing, certification and the National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI, protocol were published in May 2013, and these restricted the local property tax exemption to properties with significant pyritic damage, where such damage had been proven by the appropriate testing and subsequently certified.

Section 10A of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012, as amended, now provides for a temporary exemption of at least three years from the local property tax for residential properties that have been certified under regulations made by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government as having significant pyritic damage. The property owner is required to support a claim for the exemption by submitting a certificate to the Revenue Commissioners issued by a competent person as detailed in IS 398, dealing with reactive pyrite in sub-floor hardcore material, specifically Part 1, testing and categorisation protocol, published by the NSAI. This is the only type of certificate that is relevant under current legislation.

On foot of the report on the review of the local property tax, which the Minister for Finance commissioned and which was submitted to the Minister by Dr. Don Thornhill, the Minister decided to ease the qualifying criteria for reliefs from local property tax for home owners whose properties are severely impacted by pyrite. He accepts the points raised by Deputies on the need for such an easing of the criteria. The current pyrite exemption will continue in place and will remain confined to those properties having a damage rating of 2, or 1 with progression. However, where a property has been accepted for remediation by the Pyrite Resolution Board without testing, or a property has been remediated by a guarantee company or by a builder or developer, or where a party is compensated in lieu of remediation, without testing, the Revenue Commissioners will accept confirmation of remediation or compensation from the either the resolution board or the relevant party for the purposes of exemption without testing or NSAI certification.

It is not a question of individuals self-assessing in the absence of the board or a relevant body. The Revenue Commissioners have agreed to operate the change in local property tax procedures on an administrative basis pending the implementation of necessary legislative amendments, and they will apply these changes from 1 July 2013, when local property tax came into operation. The Deputy is no doubt aware that following Government approval, the Minister for Finance will introduce legislation in the coming weeks that will cover the deferral to 2019 of the next local property tax valuation date, and other issues, including pyrite, currently being dealt with on an administrative basis by the Revenue Commissioners. We will have that legislation in the coming weeks.

In addition, I reiterate that the local property tax operates on a self-assessment basis and it is a matter for the property owner in the first instance to calculate the tax due based on his or her assessment of the market value of the property. Where a property owner does not qualify for an exemption when making an assessment, issues such as the presence of pyrite in a particular area would be one of the factors that they could take into account in valuing their property.

The Minister believes the Deputy's proposal is too broad and could result in a compromise in the availability of reliefs to the target group and those which apply in the wider context of local property tax. He intends to deal with this in the legislation as outlined in the coming weeks. Accordingly, I am not in a position to accept the Deputy's amendment.

See this speech in context