Seanad debates

Wednesday, 15 July 2009

Local Government (Charges) Bill 2009 [Seanad Bill amended by the Dáil]: Report and Final Stages

 

12:00 pm

Photo of Paudie CoffeyPaudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State and welcome this important amendment. As the Minister said in her contribution, there was a robust debate in the Seanad during which many Members gave their views on the Bill, with a particular focus on this area, where we felt there was an inadequacy. I welcome the role played by Fine Gael in identifying this because it was unfair to those elderly relatives of people who owned property while living in a granny flat or in a cottage nearby. It also affected those in nursing homes who would have been liable for this charge on their family homes. The Minister listened to the debate and while he did not accept our amendments he undertook to consult with the necessary parties to draft amendments to address the anomalies we identified. We accept and support this amendment. Having watched the Dáil debate on the various stages and on the amendments I felt that the time necessary for proper analysis and debate was not afforded to the Bill. Some Stages were guillotined in the Dáil where I had hoped it would receive further analysis.

I raised concerns here about issues such as data transfer and the Data Protection Act in respect of information required to operate this scheme. Local authorities will depend on the transfer of data from the Private Residential Tenancies Board, the Revenue Commissioners, the Department of Social and Family Affairs and the ESB. The Minister of State should note that those concerns remain and will need to be revisited for clarification.

There were calls for the exemption of registered holiday homes because this charge will increase the overheads of running these tourism projects, which are Irish, and that will have a negative impact on their viability because the owners will pass on the charges to their tenants. The Minister did not address this issue although it was identified.

There is much concern about the exemption of the property included in the rental accommodation scheme, RAS. For example, Galway City Council has over 600 houses on the RAS. Those houses have a secure five year contract, each worth approximately €11,000 per annum. The local authority pays over €3 million in rent on this scheme yet there is no income under this legislation that can accrue from these houses. There is a potential income of €1.2 million. This issue was raised at the meeting of Galway City Council last Monday where members were very concerned and held the strong view that the houses in the RAS should not be exempt. The Minister of State should note that fact. The scheme was created to increase income for local authorities and in general we all support that idea.

Fine Gael supported the general principle of the Bill from its outset because we support the giving of autonomy to local authorities in raising funds. Galway City Council is only one example and it has 600 houses in the RAS, which offers a large potential income that should not be exempted. That is an inequity in the Bill. I pointed out on Second and other Stages that landlords in the RAS who are exempt from this charge might also let another, similar, house that is not in the RAS on which they must pay the charge. That anomaly must be addressed.

The amendment is welcome and will address the concerns we raised, especially in rural areas where elderly parents may remain in the family home while their children have built a new house on the farm. At least the family home is exempt. The same applies for those on the cottage acre where a son or daughter might have built a house and the elderly parent, or brother or sister, might live in the adjacent house although they do not own it. I welcome this amendment as will those people.

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