Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)

I thought the other Member would have used his time. I will get to my own speech. I would love to address some of the nonsense about my own party but today I do not have the energy in me to start a fight. I will stick to the speech I have.

A Aire, I think there is a bit of an irony in what we are doing in dealing with this Bill, which is to nominally but not effectively reduce the cost of property tax that households will have to pay. The Minister has to reduce it because the coming revaluations in November would have increased the costs. As we know from the protest outside regarding the housing crisis, house prices have now been driven back up to above Celtic tiger levels, meaning households would have to pay even more property tax. There is something symbolic about this. The Government introduced a tax on people's homes, then worked overtime to increase the value of the property, only to have to introduce new legislation to reduce the tax it introduced. Despite this Bill, people will still be paying more because of the revaluations. According to the Central Statistics Office, property prices have increased by a national average of 23% since November 2021. Galway has been one of the worst affected places. Often when we talk about the housing crisis, we only hear about Dublin. The impact on people's lives in Galway is absolutely horrendous. According to one source, in 2024 alone, property prices in Galway were up 17% on average.

My party has opposed the property tax from day one, as the Minister knows. We oppose the idea that, in this day and age, someone should have to scrimp and save to get a deposit to try to make it out of a rent trap that has been set for so many, just so they can get a 30-year mortgage and pay off massive principal and interest, only then to be slapped in the face with another tax. I remember what the concept was when it was introduced. I heard the previous speaker describing all the fantastic things it funds in local services. It was a change that this was the way local councils were funded. It was moved over. I remember because I was in the city council at the time.

I look at Galway City Council and Galway County Council and all the things they simply cannot fund. One of the main things I deal with in Connemara is serious issues with different roads. Sometimes I get slagged about it because I am out looking at different roads and people are asking me if I am an engineer suddenly, looking at these roads. All of these roads have serious issues. There is a serious impact on public safety when it comes to dealing with them. I contact Galway County Council and more often than not, the issue is that there is no funding to deal with those roads. We know our councils are hugely underfunded. Galway County Council is particularly underfunded. It is incredibly frustrating constantly having to go back to constituents and tell them the money is simply not in place.

Tá fhios ag an Aire go maith nach bhfuilimid i bhfábhar na cánach maoine seo. An fáth nach gcreidimid ann ná gur cáin é ar an teaghlach. Cáin is ea é ar an teach baile atá ag daoine. Dúradh linn ag an am go raibh sé seo ag teacht isteach mar gheall go gcuireadh sé leis an airgead atá ag comhairlí áitiúla, ach ar ndóigh tá a fhios againn go maith nach bhfuil sé sin fíor. D'aistrigh sé an bealach go raibh maoiniú á thabhairt go dtí na comhairlí contae agus na comhairlí cathrach. Níor chuir sé leis an maoiniú a bhí acu. Go rímhinic bhí mise amuigh i gConamara ag breathnú ar bhóithre. Aon uair a bhímse i dteagmháil leis an gcomhairle contae, an rud a dheireann sé liom ná nach bhfuil an t-airgead aige leis na bóithre sin a dheisiú. Tá na bóithre seo fíordhainséarach. Ní aontaím leis seo.

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