Terry Leyden (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Áine Brady, to the House and congratulate her on her exemplary ministerial work to date. I wish her continued success.

I will not welcome any Bill that imposes a tax, but it is a necessary evil at this time and is inventive in terms of taxation. It is basically a voluntary declaration, which is always risky, given that people are not known to indicate voluntarily that they are liable for a charge. The fee is €200, but some people will be caught for €600 per year. It is important that people are aware that if they do not pay the initial charge, they will be liable for the charges on an ongoing basis.

The Bill does not provide for freezing of the charge. Section 14 will allow the Minister to propose an increase in the House. I welcome my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Finneran, to the House and wish him continued success in the Department. I am glad he is present for the debate on this section because I would like to discuss a few matters that relate to his portfolio. I request that the charges be held at a particular rate for as long as possible. We do not want to impose more charges and costs on the public.

On the renting of properties - this is the responsibility of the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran - under the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations, local councils make greater demands of people who have registered as owning rental properties, although not everyone has registered, than they do of the Minister and the councils themselves. I know of a property that is in excellent condition, but Roscommon County Council has decided that the landlord must cut the grass. I do not know whether the Minister is liable for cutting the grass of the Department or local councils are liable for cutting the grass of rented council houses. I do not think they are. It is a nanny state that would impose such a requirement. It is pathetic, to say the least, and it contravenes a certain article, although I do not know which one.

The landlords who have declared their properties and registered under the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 have had their houses inspected. Senator Coffey referred to the money being held by the Private Residential Tenancies Board. Seemingly, councils have many members of staff who have nothing to do other than examine those properties, which is fine, but councils are imposing requirements on the landlords of properties that are of better quality than the properties being rented out by those same councils, yet they do not impose those requirements on themselves. They should get their house in order before making others liable. Surely a tenant should be liable to cut the grass around his or her house. It is a small point, but I wanted to make it.

There should be a "sale of the century" of local authority houses. Such a scheme was introduced in the 1980s, which was very attractive. The council should dispose of as many properties as possible under the best possible deal and in that way responsibility for maintenance of houses would lie with the owners rather than the councils. As the Minister of State and I know from our experience on Roscommon County Council, house maintenance was always a problem and it was very difficult to find the staff to do so. I suggest that such a scheme be introduced.

I ask the Minister of State to influence the Minister, Deputy Gormley, regarding councillors' attendance at seminars and conferences, as referred to by Senator Glynn. Through the Minister of State and his officials, I appeal to the Minister in this regard. The allowance given by various councils has been reduced due to cutbacks. It allows councillors to attend seminars of great importance. As a former councillor of 22 years, I learned more from going to conferences than I did at any council meeting. I had the opportunity to meet other councillors and to learn of what was occurring in their local authority areas. The Minister's proposal to review this allowance is small and petty in the context of the hard working, committed and dedicated people who devote their time and energy to the betterment of their electoral areas.

I will circulate to my council voters information on the best selection of conferences and seminars - I am dealing with those for July 2009 at present. The list includes the seminar on the management, protection and development of public lands and buildings, which is a very useful seminar, the inaugural Percy French summer school, which will be held in Castlecoote in Roscommon and which, I am sure, the Minister will attend, is also a very useful exercise.