Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)

I do not think it does deter people but one of the things that local authority members should look at first is their capacity to raise revenue from existing streams rather than levying a new tax on people. Often there is a rush, for instance, to reduce the local property tax, LPT. Some people are totally opposed to the LPT and have a fundamental objection to it but at the same time, they come up with the concept of a tourism tax. The two things do not sit well together, to be honest. The Dublin local authorities have the potential to look at their own internal revenue bases first before a tourism tax is foisted on people..

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