Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I want to make a few points. First, I believe the Minister owes it to transparent and accountable Government to tell people what will happen with property tax before the local elections. It would be a bit of a scam to wait until after the local elections and then see massive hikes based on the November revaluation date, which is promised.

Second, I would point out to the Minister that there were two major justifications for property tax at the time it was introduced. The first was that it would control property values and stop property bubbles happening again. It clearly failed to achieve that. The second is that it would give extra revenues to local authorities. I want to read a sentence from the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown transport roads project document. It states: "Since 2015 these grants [the grants from the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport] were replaced by Local Property Tax income, and, up to 2018, this has resulted in a reduced income to Roads Maintenance of approx. €500K". It has failed to control property prices and it has led to a reduction in the moneys available to local authorities.

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