Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State. It is important to provide additional funding for local authorities. They are somewhat cash-strapped and that is why I welcome this aspect of the Bill. Nobody welcomes a new tax of any sort. A friend, Michael Pat Murphy Jr., who died rather untimely, advocated as a young Independent councillor the imposition of a levy or tax on second or holiday homes. In my area, south-west Cork, there are many such homes. His point was that it would generate extra revenue for the local authority. If this tax had been imposed during the past ten or 12 years of boom when there was unprecedented wealth in the country the pain would be much less acute because money was flowing freely and so on. The sum of €200 seems small but I have no doubt that over the next few years it will be increased.

I am glad to note the exemptions. In nearly every village and town there are scores or even hundreds of unoccupied houses in housing estates but the houses that cannot be sold are exempt. I hope that in their interpretation of what is a habitable dwelling the local authority or agencies concerned will take a practical or pragmatic view and deem a house in disrepair to be uninhabitable. I do not want to see the old situation that prevailed when I was a young lad in the 1960s and earlier whereby a person who had a second house would knock the chimney off the house to avoid rates because if there was no fireplace the rates were not imposed. Some relatively good houses were turned into houses for pigs or cattle. I hope the people in charge today will take a more pragmatic view.

I hope that administrative costs do not outweigh the benefit of the tax imposed. A sum of €200 is small in this day and age for anybody who is fortunate enough to have a second home. There is a fear that the next budget may include some form of property tax. I do not want to see administrative difficulties. I had an experience with the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, which made me think that the administrative difficulties nearly outweighed the cost of registering. The board is a good system. Not so long ago a daughter of mine was in college and her landlord had several properties in a city that I will not name and insisted that she pay the rent in cash. I objected to this. The conditions in the flat were atrocious. I would like to see better quality rental properties in Dublin, Cork or Galway, that provide basic facilities. There should not be wallpaper falling off the walls because of the damp and lack of heating and atrocious sanitary facilities. The time has come when anybody who has any kind of property should be registered. Does the Minister of State know if any survey has been done to establish how many student or rental properties around the State are registered? Probably up to 40% are not registered with the PRTB.

I did not intend to contribute but wanted to mention those few points. I welcome the Minister of State and congratulate him on the work he is doing. I hope this levy will be of benefit to the local authorities because they badly need a few extra euro in their kitties.