Pearse Doherty (Sinn Fein)

Go raibh maith agat, a Aire. While one of my questions was answered, the other was not. For example, the Donegal county manager said the council will plug the gap in funding from the decrease in the local government fund from central Government through these charges. However, we have no idea when the legislation will be published, introduced or take effect in order that a local authority can start the hard work involved. The Minister of State says it is not equitable to have these charges retained within a local authority area, but I think that decision is wrong. Local authorities apply rates to businesses within their areas. Will the same standard be applied to businesses? That would mean all businesses in the State would be taken together and the revenue would then be divided out equally. For example, in the west, where we do not have many thriving businesses, the rates base is very low. The west also has most of the holiday homes — one quarter of them in County Donegal alone. It would be unfair and would be a case of double standards if the Government were not to allow the local authority charge on holiday homes to be kept within the local authority area. Furthermore, we need clarification, as do the county managers and the councillors across the State who will be holding budget meetings soon, as to when local authorities will be able to levy this charge. I appeal to the Minister of State to ask the Minister for that information for me.