Conor Murphy (Sinn Fein)

I welcome the Minister's presence in the Chamber. This is a challenging issue for any finance minister to deal with, but one that must be faced nonetheless. The political choices involved are undoubtedly helped by the fact of the significant resources currently in this State. I have had this challenge north of the Border as Minister of Finance. I must lay out at the start that it is a different set of circumstances. There are little or no alternative revenue-raising options for the Executive north of the Border except for a property tax, which is known as the rates. The North has operated in a context of austerity policies for the past 14 years and continues to do so, unfortunately, even with the new Labour government. These policies have crippled public services and restricted greatly the ability of the Executive in the North to provide services. Consequently, 10% of the Executive's income comes from property rates. That income is used to fund schools and hospitals as well as local government and a whole range of public services. While we recognise that placed a burden on householders and businesses, even though the tax was set progressively and there were significant exemptions, it was recognised this was not something we would have come to of our volition had it not been the system that was in place and it being the only option available.

In my time as finance Minister I set up a fiscal commission with some very qualified people to look at alternative revenue-raising options for the Executive. They produced a very substantial report having engaged with all the political parties and a whole range of players. It included the prospect of income tax, among other fiscal powers, being transferred to the Executive. Unfortunately, political unionism does not believe in additional powers for the Executive and that is where the matter remains stuck. Therefore, though property tax is a proposal we have to engage with north of the Border, it is not one we have ever been supportive of and, as I said, we have proactively tried to examine alternatives to it and tried to promote them.

The difference on this side of the Border is the Government has the ability and resources to phase out property tax while also funding local authorities with the revenue they would forgo. Sinn Féin has presented these proposals annually in our alternative budgets but they have yet to be taken up by governments. The exercise we are currently in to satisfy the revaluation process is a consequence of that political choice. Unfortunately, the inevitable outcome of this will be to increase, especially on some struggling families during a cost-of-living crisis, which the Government recognises with some other measures, though they are insufficient. That is more difficult to bear for people when they understand vulture funds, for instance, still do not pay taxes on their rental incomes as well as that rents are going up very significantly and house prices are spiralling out of control.

An additional matter, which the Minister addressed in his opening contribution, is homes which are affected by defective concrete blocks. Aside from the difficulty owners are experiencing with accessing the redress scheme, the Minister advised yesterday evening that only 1,000 properties have managed to avail of the exemption from property tax. It appears people who are understandably trying to do some running repairs on their homes when faced with the very obvious defects and dangers of the structures they are forced to live in can unwittingly put themselves outside the threshold of that exemption. I hope that is something in particular the Minister will look at. There will be further discussion here next week on some amendments to this. Amendments were put forward in the Dáil as well. The recognition of the difficulty in accessing exemptions and the problems of people in accessing the redress scheme itself shows people who are living in an impossible situation are not receiving the support they deserve. I trust the Minister will engage with that.

Property tax is an issue I have had to engage with in a previous position but is not one we have ever sought to support or create. There are better, fairer and more progressive alternative means of revenue-raising. Especially given the situation in this part of Ireland where the resources are there to do that, the Government should look again at the issue of property taxes.