James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate the opportunity to discuss the reforms that are coming to the local property tax. First and foremost, it is important to point out that this tax is one of the few taxes whereby people can see a tangible difference in terms of what it can do. I come from east Cork and I served as a member of Cork County Council prior to being elected to Dáil Éireann, which was a major privilege. Unfortunately, our local authority is one of the most underfunded local authorities in the country. That was recently confirmed by reports carried out on Cork County Council. I commend the work the council has done to raise this with Members of the Oireachtas. Hopefully, it will be brought to the Minister's attention by his Fine Gael colleagues, but I am doing it here tonight with regard to the funding issues it has. The property tax is extremely important.

I want to give some feedback on some of the reforms that have been discussed. Unfortunately, there has been much fearmongering about what these changes will mean, but some valid issues have been raised with me regarding what is considered when calculating the property tax. I have heard some ludicrous suggestions that new formats will be found, particularly with regard to rural dwellings and relating to outhouses, garages or sheds that may be located there, when calculating the valuation of properties. I have even heard talk of redesignating what are considered to be sites of houses and farmhouses. As somebody who comes from a farming background, I can tell the Minister that it is quite hard to define these issues, so I would be very worried by any attempts made by the Department. I will resist any attempts to try to reform how property tax is calculated in order to punish people living in rural Ireland. They are going through enough challenges as it is.

We have to examine how fair and equitable property tax is. It is a good tax. I believe it makes an important and positive difference to communities. It helps to fund the local authorities which provide services to citizens throughout the country. Obviously, people who are renting properties or who do not own property are not affected by property tax. It is a progressive tax. As a Fianna Fáil Deputy, I find it extraordinary that one of the main political blocs in the Dáil wants it to be abolished. I am concerned that a major party, and I do not know if I should name it, which claims to be representing ordinary people and people who are trying to earn an honest living wants to abolish it. There has just been a by-election in Dublin Bay South. Deputy Gould is laughing, but from my perspective the joke in the Chamber is what I am looking at. What Sinn Féin is proposing is ludicrous. How is it going to fund our local authorities and build social houses by taking away such an important revenue stream for local authorities? That must be put on the record. Undoubtedly, I will be charmed by the response we will get shortly from the Deputy from Cork North-Central. He is laughing, but that Deputy does not want to charge property tax on somebody living in a house on Shrewsbury Road. That is extraordinary. He does not want to charge property tax on people living in dwellings worth from €1 million to €20 million. That is the joke here, so I thank Deputy Gould for his laughs.

I am very concerned, as somebody who has represented Cork County Council and gone on to be elected to the Dáil, that we ensure there is equity when people pay this tax. It has been laid out quite clearly that Cork County Council is one of the lowest funded local authorities in the country, and I have to question the value that people get for paying this tax. I want the Minister and his Department to examine this issue. It is very important that this is done. I return to the central message. For people who own property it is right and just, from the perspective of those of us who wish we were in that position, that there is some equity when it comes to taxation. Many positive benefits come from people who are in that financial position. I say that as the youngest Member of Dáil Éireann.

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