Paudie Coffey (Fine Gael)

I wish to make a final comment on this Bill which is about to be passed. I thank the Minister and his officials for engaging with Members on this Bill. Issues of concern were identified and we would not have raised them unless we had a genuine and sincere reason to do so. I outlined the concerns we have. We will monitor closely the implementation of this legislation at local authority level. We highlighted our concerns during the debates on Second and other Stages regarding the financial capacity of local authorities to manage adequately the implementation of this legislation. They will be depending on the Private Rental Tenancy Board and other agencies in this respect, which we do not believe are not up to speed in this regard. We outlined that in detail during the debate on earlier Stages.

I thank the officials who drafted the legislation and wish it well as it becomes law. It will create an important stream of income for local government. That is essential and it is the basis for this Bill. Local authorities throughout the country will welcome the fact that they will have a new income stream available to them. I hope that this stream of revenue will not be a substitute for the central fund from which allocations are made to local authorities. There have been cuts of up to 10% in that fund. This steam of revenue should not plug that gap but should be an additional source of income for local authorities.

I ask the Minister and his officials to monitor implementation of the legislation. Senator Doherty referred to this matter already. He said it is estimated that Donegal County Council will rank third highest in terms of the accrual of revenue. There will be a big deviation in the revenue accruing to local authorities ranging from €1 million up to €12 million. Some local authorities will not derive a large amount of revenue on foot of this legislation. I ask the Minister, his officials and the Department to monitor this and not to be of the view that every local authority is accruing a large amount of revenue on foot of this legislation as some local authorities will only derive a minuscule amount of revenue compared to others.