Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I echo many of the Senator's remarks, which I raise on a daily basis. We had a debate last night on St. Joseph's and the lack of funding for dementia sufferers there. It is despicable that we have to continue raising the issue. I wish to raise the question of how we treat our cities and towns. We look for foreign direct investment to create employment, which is delivered through our large cities and towns. I will make the argument for Dublin, though I am sure the Leader will make the argument for Cork very eloquently. We have to take our cities and towns very seriously and we have to fund them in the correct manner. I often ask myself what Dublin ever did to Fine Gael because Government policies have been very much anti-Dublin. Dublin was given a clear commitment that there would be no financial loss relating to Irish Water but we are facing a deficit of €8.4 million. There was a commitment of €4 million for the HSE to fund the fire brigade and ambulance services but the money has not been forthcoming. Dublin raises €65 million in local property tax but it gets to keep €3.9 million from it, according to Dublin City Council figures. People who have been paying property tax since its introduction are living beside a neighbour who has paid no property tax, which was supposed to be changed in 2016 but was not. We need a serious discussion about the funding of local government.

I believe in the local property tax and I make no excuse for saying that but it has to be done in a fair manner. Local government has to be funded and the best way to do it is to fund it locally. For many multimillionaires who lived in my constituency of Dublin Bay South, the only tax they paid was their local property tax as they were able to avoid many other taxes by various means, including living outside the country for a number of years. They were able to own a large house on Ailesbury Road and pay no tax apart from the property tax. We are now having a knee-jerk reaction to the funding of Dublin City Council. As Senator Boyhan said, Dún Laoghaire was crucified with the transfer of Dún Laoghaire Harbour to the local authority, giving it a shortfall of €10 million with no real plan and meaning services were curtailed in Dún Laoghaire. If we were talking about raising car parking and toll bridge fees with a strategic view to reducing the impact of climate change, I would be supportive, but one has to do such things in a holistic manner. We have to make sure people can get into city centres to shop and trade, so that small businesses can continue to pay their rates. If we cut off small businesses at their knees, they will not survive so when raising car parking and toll fees a public transportation policy has to be implemented at the same time, yet this is not happening. I very much support the calls for the Minister to come into the House to discuss the matter and to give his vision and strategy. We have been waiting for these things for three years and they still have not arrived while, in the meantime, Dublin is being crucified by Fine Gael. It is totally unacceptable.