Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to get an opportunity to talk about the property tax and the new formulas that are being brought in. It is ironic this change is being introduced just as we are emerging from a gigantic public health pandemic. People are still worried, confused and out of sorts after being isolated. They are very worried about themselves and their families and now this is another concern. People do not mind paying if they get something in return. The property tax is very unfair in that regard. In rural areas, farmers and many others get very little in return for this tax.

An example of this is the local improvement scheme list in Kerry, which numbered 697 at the start of the year. We have only got enough funding for seven roads. Deputy Griffin said we got a 5% increase, but in fact we will not be doing as many roads this year as we did last year. We got enough for just ten roads last year and only seven this year. People in rural Ireland deserve a good road to their door just as much as do the people in Dublin 4. I have consistently said that but it is not happening. The scheme was suspended for six or seven years, then a new list was looked for and the people who were waiting since 2008 are still waiting. It is not fair. These are not private roads. The criterion for applying for the local improvement scheme is that you must have two or more landholdings. It is not applicable to one private house. On many of these roads, there are 20 or 30 houses, with farmers and others living up and down the way. The roads are in a terrible state and are not in the charge of the county council. That is just one issue I need to get across. The officials in the Department of Finance need to realise these are public roads, not private roads. They are public rights of way.

Water is an essential service. In Kerry, we have a serious problem with group water schemes not going ahead because, as well as residents having to pay €8,000 or €10,000 per house along the line, Irish Water is now looking for €2,000 on top of that. This is double charging and it is not acceptable. When I think of Dublin and other cities, I do not begrudge anyone anything but the people there have all the services, including all the new buses. You might see three or four of them passing one after the other and only two or three people in each of them. We cannot get that kind of service in rural Kerry.

Then we have a scenario where a small bridge or a large culvert, as we call it in many places, will not be replaced for 12 months or a year and a half because there are so many environmental and other assessments to be done. In the case of one particular bridge in Kilgarvan, Gort Bridge, the material that built it in 1880 or whatever was brought in a horse and cart. It has been closed for almost a year and a half and work on it will not be allowed to go ahead. It was the same in Gortdarrig and Headford. There was a slip on the road from the Top of Coom to Ballingeary and it was almost two years before it was repaired. People had to go around it. If those things happened in Dublin, Cork or any of the other cities, the repairs would be done right away.

The property tax will hit pensioners very hard, especially where there is only one pensioner in a large house. People want to stay in the house in which they gave all their lives. They are suffering hard and the increase in the property tax is going to affect them. Where there are two pensioners together, they can help each other to pay the bills, but it is very hard for people on their own. The funeral grant has been abolished and people worry about being able to pay for their funeral. Every extra cent they must pay will hurt them.

The Tánaiste said that something has to be done for people with Dublin properties that are of a very high value. I suppose the reason the value of houses has gone up is because of their scarcity. If the Government went back to the traditional house building, where local authorities were given funding to buy a site and build the houses, that would be cheaper than all the schemes that are in place at present, such as the rental accommodation scheme, the housing assistance payment scheme and all these things. They are costing money and the State is finishing up with nothing to show for them.

On top of the property tax, people in rural Ireland have to contend with the price of fuel, which has gone up massively. It has not gone unnoticed by people in rural areas. The addition of the carbon tax on top of it is making fuel very expensive. Every day, you would nearly be afraid to look at the sign beside the pump because the price has gone up a couple of cent more. Where is it going to stop?

I am very worried about the inclusion of sheds and garages and land up to an acre in these provisions. That is going to hurt people in rural Ireland with farms. What is the necessity of it? It is like the fair deal scheme, which I have been very opposed to, under which the farm is assessed as well as the house. That is very wrong and it is wrong as well to include up to an acre of land under these provisions. Again, it is not fair because people in urban areas do not have an acre and do not have to pay it, but farmers and others in rural areas will. In fact, it is up to a hectare, which is 2.5 acres. That is a lot of land. What value is going to be put on it? I am very worried about this and it needs to be clarified.

Then we have the proposal that if the valuation given by the householder is not accepted, the figure the Revenue Commissioners assume the house should be valued at will come into play. It seems to me there could a lot of room for increasing the value of a house and perhaps creating an unfair valuation because the person in Revenue, or whoever it is, may be from Dublin or another urban area. If a house is situated in the middle of a farm, it is just the place where the farmer lives. It does not have the same value as a house in Dublin 4 or wherever because the farm is around and it cannot be treated the very same.

People cannot pay another cent and that is it. They have so many things to contend with, whether it is the USC, which was brought in as a temporary measure, motor tax or any of the other charges people in rural Ireland face. If you are building a new house, you have to pay lots of levies, including a road levy. A levy to assist with roads must be paid but a cent might never be spent on the road up to the new house a young fellow is building. The cost of an ESB connection is unreal, depending on the number of poles or whatever.

Turning to broadband, we do not have that service in many places in Kerry. People are trying to improvise and pay others to try to bring broadband to them. It is a different story in rural Ireland. People in rural Ireland are not getting the services that people in urban areas are getting. That should be recognised when all this is being decided. This Bill is vague, but I am concerned for the people of rural Kerry that I represent.

See this speech in context