Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would not want to ruin the surprise for the Deputy. To be serious, because this is serious, staff and services are being provided to our citizens across the Twenty-six Counties. A couple of points arise. The €600 million waiver provided is not insignificant. Colleagues will agree that significant work and negotiation were required to ensure a waiver of 100%.

In early April, we advanced €136 million of the local property tax allocations that were made to local authorities. The full allocation of local property tax, some €517 million, was paid to local authorities in September. The only reason I do not want to give the Deputy a ballpark figure is that there are variations in scale and I would be setting an expectation, either low or high; suffice it to say that officials in the Department - very committed civil servants whom the Deputy and colleagues will know very well - are engaging daily with the local government sector. The sector is well aware that we are supporting it and that we are in discussions with other Departments to ensure no deficit in local government funding this year. That is what we are endeavouring to achieve while we negotiate a budget for next year.

We need to be flexible because circumstances will change. Local authorities will need to change and adapt as we continue to live with this pandemic. They perform a crucial role, particularly through the community call initiative there will across the country.

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