Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

When the Minister of State made his opening statement he referred to property tax being a secure fund. Motor tax was a secure fund and local authorities were previously provided with resources from it through the local government fund. The guarantee from 1997 was that the fund would be ring-fenced. Property tax has essentially become a replacement for the local government fund.

When one tracks motor tax year on year, one can see how it has been stripped down to the point where there will not be a general purpose fund and local property tax will be that fund. In fact, an amount is taken each year as a subvention for Irish Water. There is no reference to that in the Bill this year but there has been a reference in previous years so I assume that will continue to be the case. This is exactly what is happening, so let us frame it correctly. The 2016 to 2019 period gives people certainty in terms of valuation and benefits those who have the most expensive homes, in particular ones that do not have a mortgage. It is noteworthy that the measure is coming in advance of a general election. This picks up on a point made by the previous speaker, although I would not be giving Fine Gael the election at this stage-----

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