Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will reply briefly. We are not likely to revisit the legislation at this point. It has already been debated and is due to come into application at the beginning of July. A decision was made on the present system of taxation, which will have the benefit of ensuring a regular supply of funding for local authorities. Those of us who were local authority members for many years found funding to be a major problem. This tax will allow local authorities to become real local governments for their areas.

We decided on this mechanism after a careful discussion on the Thornhill group report. One third of the country's dwellings were built after 2000 or thereabouts, which is not too far out of kilter with the situation pertaining in Dublin's commuter belt. Indeed, the situation in my constituency in the heart of Dublin is very much the same.

Difficulties arise in every system that we use. I take the Senator's comments on board and I will bring them to the Minister's attention.