Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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308. To ask the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there are persons in north County Dublin whose homes have been rendered effectively worthless due to the fact there is pyrite in their estate and their homes have been given grade 1 status, and yet these persons have to pay the local property tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25891/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The qualifying criteria in respect of the exemption from Local Property Tax (LPT) on foot of significant pyritic damage were modified by the Finance (Local Property Tax) (Amendment) Act 2015.

The modifications were introduced by me on foot of recommendations made by Dr Don Thornhill following a review of the LPT in 2015. The revised criteria include properties where:

1. a certificate of damage has been completed by a competent person as set down in I.S. 398-1.2013 or,

2. the property has been accepted into the pyrite remediation scheme operated by the Pyrite Resolution Board or,

3. an insurance company has remediated the property or provided sufficient funds to carry out the remediation or,

4. the person who built the property has remediated it or provided sufficient funds to carry out the remediation.

Property owners claiming the exemption under Criteria 1 must provide a certificate to Revenue, which is completed in accordance with I.S. 398-1.2013 as set down by the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government in Statutory Instrument (SI) No 147 of 2013. Property owners claiming the exemption under Criteria 2 to 4 must provide appropriate supporting documentation.

The 'pyrite exemption' is claimed by property owners on a self-assessed basis and the onus is on the claimants to provide the appropriate supporting documentation to Revenue when requested to do so. Where the supporting documentation is not provided or where it does not conform with the statutory requirements then Revenue is obliged to withdraw the relief and secure payment of any outstanding LPT liabilities.

Once granted, the exemption becomes applicable from the following 1 November and normally remains in place for a period of six years. The Act does not provide entitlement to the exemption for any years previous to a property being accepted as having significant pyritic damage or in circumstances where the pyritic damage was remediated prior to the introduction of LPT on 1 July 2013. Revenue has confirmed to me that 731 additional properties have benefitted from the exemption since commencement of the Amendment.

In regard to the specific North County Dublin properties to which the Deputy is referring, I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that the owners in question claimed the pyrite exemption on a self-assessed basis but that the supporting documentation subsequently confirmed the remediation occurred prior to the enactment of LPT, thereby falling outside of the required criteria.