Mattie McGrath Warns Local Property Tax Will Punish Rural Homeowners

I rise today to speak again on behalf of the hard-pressed homeowners of this country, especially those in rural Ireland and in my own constituency of Tipperary, right from Tipperary town down to Caillacanmel, and indeed Castle and Cannockinsure, and the villages and rural houses as well, who are continuing to be squeezed. This is unjust and unnecessary local property tax. The bill before us proposes to increase charges on the vast majority of households, despite the cost-of-living crisis, and we also have been told that there are going to be no more cost-of-living supports, in spite of the fact that food prices and food inflation and everything else is rising continuously, and we do not see any respite from that, and despite the rising mortgage rates, and despite that the counties' families are really struggling to keep their lights on. So there are some aspects of the bill I welcome, but I do not welcome the fact that we can give latitude now for our county councillors and to go from 15% at the moment up to 25% latitude. What will happen? Management will push for this right up to 25% and more if they get it, because they have been cash-starved by central government, and have been, since I campaigned for it, and I went around boasting about it in the 1977 election, as a young buccalogue and a member of Fianna Fáil, that rates were taken away. And since then, the county council have been starved, so it was a bad decision in hindsight, but you learn by your mistakes, and when you are a party you must do what you are told to. So Minister, I ask you to go back and re-examine this, because it is not fair. As I said, there are charges, and despite, as I said, rising markets and everything else, and there are some areas where it can be delayed, and in some cases, you can postpone it, and I have one of those cases on my hands at the moment, or a couple of them, where the parents are deceased, and the bills are still accruing on the property, or had accrued before it passed on. Let us be clear, the local property tax punishes people simply for working hard and putting a roof over their head, and it is blind to the realities in places, as I said, like Tipperary, Clear Castle, Carrick & Shore, and all the other towns where the housing values have increased continuously, and as I said, there are very little services in return. In actual fact, no services. We saw that last January, when the snowfall, there was not even an egg cup of salt to be got for the households. So what did they get for it? Skeleton staffs now, in all the local authorities, and I praise the staff that are there, but they are not there. But still, there are no charges of people in the offices working inside, but the skeleton staff on the ground, there was a time when people got those services, and they were looked after, and to the best of their ability. So, I mean, they are not getting anything in return. And I know this is a debate that people in Dublin say they are punished, but they have every service you can ever think of, from street lights to lights to street sweeping energy, public transport, you name it. Whereas in the country, you are on your own. I have long opposed the LPT in principle. I said it in 2013, and I say it again today. A family home is not a taxable asset. It is a necessity. And we know how many do not have those homes, and we should support them in any way we can to get them. This tax hits the elderly, the low income, and those who worked hard all their lives to buy a modest home, and now with inflation still biting, the government is quietly racketing up the burden again. And as I said, the council will be told by the management and local services here, and there is callous dangles. And I will agree, some of the money goes into very vital services in the rural areas. It does, and into villages and different enhancement schemes and everything else, and some discretion with local councils. But it is the basis and the whole thesis and thinking behind this tax. Anyone who works hard to put a roof over their head should be supported, should be supported. We will have a debate tomorrow night and tonight about the landlords and everything else, and tenants, and some good tenants, and some very bad tenants, and there are issues like that. So the people who put their hands in their pockets, put the roof over their head, and try and maintain it, and keep them maintained, and the upkeep and maintenance. And as you know, with hard row winters and everything else, they take a lot of work to keep the houses intact. But I was at a meeting recently with the management in our county, South Tipperary County Council, and shocked to hear that the council must find 15 million before 2030 to refurbish and to bring up their buildings, and some of them are modern buildings mind, up to these new standards for the carbon and so-called carbon tax. There was then spending 10 or 11 million on the fleet. And I questioned this. I said, why in the fleet? Oh, they said, because, you know, we have one lorry now, a diesel truck, we'd have to have two to replace the one in case there's after hours and the longer, the days work and whatever else. Just nonsense. And I asked, where are we going to get this money? And I got an empty silence. I asked again, well, we're going to get it off of two areas, obviously, we don't get government funding, rates, and indeed property tax. So all the money is going to be in a fanciful project, we have fine buildings in Neen and Clonmel, and cash will be built and closed and is abandoned, and tip down all new offices. And to think that we would go out now and spend scarce money on bringing those up to standard. Anyhow, I'm inside them, you'd have to take off the jacket with the heat of them. So they tell you that they're trying to bring them up to future-proofing and to whatever else. And we're going to penalise the ordinary citizens who can't get ACAI grants, who haven't the money to put up ahead. And there's a two-year waiting list, there may be more than two-year waiting list. So I'm calling on the Minister and the Government to this, because I won't be supporting it. I couldn't support it. As I said, I spoke against it in 2013, it'll be hypocritical if we support it now. And in spite of the fact, I welcome that where the MICA issue is that we might give some consideration, but that is growing exponentially, and we're going to have more areas of that as well. So I think it's ill-judged and ill-timed, and especially coming into such an uncertain time, and the cost of living is so high, to be trying to force people to pay this. And it is, because all those people we're talking about have their own houses. They pay everything, and they never shock the responsibilities. They pay their mortgage, pay the repairmen, pay the maintenance men, and pay for everything, paint their house, you name it. They don't get any support. But this is an unjust and unfair tax, and it should be shelved. Thank you.