Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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84. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of persons who have opted to pay their local property tax by means of a deduction from their social protection payment; the number of instances where the maximum deduction allowable did not cover the full liability and resulted in a shortfall at the end of the year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42272/15]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by Revenue that the €186 'de minimis' weekly welfare payment from the Department of Social Protection (DSP) is enshrined in legislation and any deductions, including deduction of Local Property Tax (LPT), cannot reduce that weekly payment below that amount.

For the 2013 LPT half-year almost 14,000 property owners opted to meet their obligations through deduction at source from their DSP payments. Of these, just over 1,200 did not meet the full LPT liability through that payment method because of the 'de minimis' rule.

The number of property owners that opted to use the DSP deduction at source payment option increased to 24,000 for the 2014 tax year and 25,000 for the 2015 tax year. The numbers that failed to meet the full liability on foot of the 'de minimis' rule for those years were almost 2,000 and 300 respectively.

Revenue has confirmed to me that where the full LPT liability could not be deducted from the DSP payment, direct contact was made with the property owners in question and alternative payment arrangements (including deferral) were put in place to meet the outstanding balance.