Dan Boyle (Green Party)

In terms of the current system, we can also look forward to the report of the Commission on Taxation in 2009. Part of its remit is the way ongoing local government taxation will be reformed. I am confident that among the recommendations of the commission will be the degree to which this type of tax will be a mainstay of local government finance and the better alternatives.

In this year's budget we have the introduction of a charge on second properties which will help in terms of future local government finance. As that charge, levy or tax is underpinned with a valuation system, I can envisage that being a form of local government taxation as it is in every other European country we are a partner with in the European Union.

In criticising the way we fund local government now we must be clear that in terms of the alternatives that have to be put in place, it is not a question of reinventing the wheel. They already exist. It is about making the system fairer, making the ability to pay and collect easier and making finance available for direct usage in the local authority areas. At this stage this is the best levy available to us. It helps to a large extent in an economic environment where the other forms of funding — direct State funding and funding from the commercial rates base — have been necessarily contracted. On that basis, the rates not charged in the change of system and the additions being proposed in this Bill are fair. They are proposed on the basis that we must fill the hole in local government finance and do so in a way that reflects the fact that most people who are availing of local authority services, which include the non-national roads, contribute to some of the costs of each local authority.

On those grounds I welcome the Bill and look forward to the report of the Commission on Taxation in September in outlining the way local government finance will be more varied and effective following its recommendations.