Darragh O'Brien (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

All of us understand this is an important week for the Seanad. I welcome that the debate on the Social Welfare Bill 2012 is scheduled over three days. It is important that the legislation is debated properly in this House. The Seanad will have more time to debate the Bill than was the case in the Dáil. I hope we will have a reasoned debate and that people will listen to the arguments put forward on both sides of the House. I look forward to putting forward our views and discussing our amendments tomorrow.

I ask the Leader to raise an issue arising with the proposed property tax with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.

Colleagues on Dublin City Council now face a bill of ¤3.4 million - just two weeks after passing their budget - on the basis of the property tax for which the Minister says local authorities are now liable. Two weeks ago, Fianna Fáil colleagues on Dublin City Council sought a postponement of the council budget in order to get clarification from the Minister as to who would be liable for the property tax and how it would be paid. Dublin City Council owns 21,771 social housing units, all of which will now be liable for the tax, which will bring a bill of approximately ¤3.4 million. Fingal County Council, my local authority, has 5,077 social housing units, but it is only having its budget today. The bill for Fingal County Council will amount to approximately ¤1.6 million over a full year. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council has approximately 4,000 social housing units and it is expected to pass its budget tomorrow.

Did the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, make any effort to consult the local authorities about this? Was there any communication at all with local authority members and county and city managers? Has his Department carried out an assessment of the number of local authority houses in each area and of the cost of the overall bill for each council? Was there any proper examination of this or did the Minister hope people would not notice these changes? As colleagues are aware, most local authorities will pass their budgets over the next few weeks. It is important and the least that can be expected that locally elected members are given some idea, before they pass their budgets, for what additional bills they will be liable.

How can local authorities pay this tax. They must either raise the rents of those living in local authority houses to pay these bills or they must cut services. Last year, when the household charge was introduced - which we supported - it was supposed to fund local government, but all local authorities were hit with a cut of ¤1 million in September because they did not reach their targets on the collection of the household charge. Now we have a property tax that is particularly anti-urban and anti-Dublin. Local authorities will now be asked to pass a budget to fund local government, which it will not do, and will be hit with an additional bill. Did the Department and the Minister consult the county and city managers on this? Has the Department a list of the number of social housing units in each local authority and has it calculated the approximate cost of the tax for each local authority?

Why did the Minister ignore the recommendation in the Thornhill report, which was not published for eight months, that social housing and the housing stock of local authorities would be exempt from the property tax. This recommendation has been set aside. This is not fair on people working in local authorities, particularly locally elected councillors who are expected to pass budgets without knowing the full story. I would be grateful if the Leader could clarify this issue.