Danny Healy-Rae criticises property tax and rural service cuts
Danny Healy-Rae spoke on 14 July 2021 about proposed property tax changes and the state of rural services, opposing charges on farm outbuildings and expanded curtilage. He supported an amendment and argued the measures unfairly burden farmers and rural communities in Kerry.
Property tax concerns
Danny Healy-Rae warned that a residential property tax is being extended to include farm outbuildings such as hen houses and dog houses, and that the curtilage around a house is being increased to a hectare - about two and a half acres. He argued this would effectively tax farmers on land around their homes and described the change as totally unfair, giving his backing to the amendment opposing it.
Local roads and transport funding
He criticised the allocation of Local Improvement Scheme funding in Kerry, saying there are 697 roads on the lease this year but funding fully available for only seven roads. He contrasted rural road neglect with a reported payment of €2.4 million for three buses in Dublin, describing crowded or underused urban bus services while rural areas lack reliable transport.
Water and group schemes
Danny Healy-Rae highlighted problems with group water schemes, saying many lack funding and households are being asked to pay €8,000-€10,000 to connect to schemes forced by Kerry County Council. He said Irish Water has added a €1,200 correction fee, which he described as the last straw, and that five group water schemes in Kerry are not proceeding as a result.
Housing supports and demountable homes
He raised concerns about the loss of supports for rural housing, noting that demountable homes previously provided by local authorities are no longer available in Kerry. He said funding for rural cottages from 2016 to 2021 produced 13 approvals from about 60 applications, and argued that elderly rural residents are being denied the ability to live out their lives at home.
Final position and rural impact
Danny Healy-Rae concluded by accusing the government of favouring urban areas and reducing supports for rural communities, reiterating his support for the amendment. He framed the measures as another example of rural Ireland being let down and called on the minister to address the issues raised, especially action on Irish Water and fairer treatment for farmers and rural households.
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I'm glad to get the opportunity to talk on this and to support this amendment because at the outset the property tax as I understand was to be a residential property tax so now it looks like if the farmer has a hen house or a dog house the hen's are going to be charged property tax as well and the dog there have to be property tax paid for him and the amount of land around it is being increased to a hectare, that's two and a half acres. I think this is totally unfair, Minister. I mean again this is something like the Fair Deal where the farmer is being assessed and every other person's, their residential property is being assessed. So now we are taxing the farmer under the name of the property tax for two and a half acres. This is totally wrong. And when we have a scenario like the Local Improvement Scheme in Kerry, we have 697 roads on the lease starting out this year. We have money fully for seven roads. That's the truth of it. And I have said here before that the people of rural Ireland are entitled to a good road to their door, the very same as the people in Dublin 4. And we see today, Minister, you paid for 2.4 million for three buses for here in Dublin, as if we didn't have enough buses in Dublin. There are three and four, they are going fours and fives up and down every street and only one or two people inside them and no service or no bus service for most of rural Ireland. You are aware of the fairies. We have no funding for group water schemes or people can't afford them and water is, as I said to you yesterday, water is an essential service. And there was a lot of hullabaloo here in Dublin about getting free water, but people in Kerry can't get water and to pay for it. They have been asked to pay eight or ten thousand per house for to get on a group scheme forced by Kerry County Council. And then, lo and behold, Irish Water 1, 2000 added to the correction fee now as well, which is, it's the last straw, breaks the camel's back, the camel's back. And there's five group water schemes now in Kerry not going ahead because of that. And I'm asking you, Minister, to tackle Irish water about this because this is totally unfair. And water is essential. And there's a lot, there has been a lot of hullabaloo about charges. And the people of rural Ireland wouldn't consider it at all because they provide their own water. When they're applying to get planning permission, most of them have to drill their own wells and get it from a water course or whatever, and without any help from the state providing that service. Indeed, all they'd rather do is stop them from building in the first place. And they're providing their own site. And in many cases, rural cottages now are hardly being built at all in Kerry. And it was a great service, and we had great people like John O'Donoghue, Farron Foer, and those people, and Paddy Gallagher, the late Paddy Gallagher from Williamshire Island, who built many rural cottages around the county of Kerry. But that, he seemed to be going away for that. Only in the last, from 2016 to 2021, all the funding he gave us for 13 rural cottages out of a figure of about 60 applications, and the rest of the official. We can't get a demountable home. It has happened, and it is still happening, practically on a daily and a weekly basis, where a farmer, be a man or a woman, their house runs down and maybe something happens and it's no longer livable in. And we used to have a service where a demountable home was brought out from the local authority. That's not happening at all in Kerry now. They're saying they don't have the funding for that. And that's very wrong because whatever people, those people, they're maybe in their 60s, and they want to live out their lives where they were born, bred and reared, and where their few cattle and their few sheep and their few animals are, they're being denied that right now. And any good thing that we had, this government, the last government, and the most recent governments have got rid of them. And to think then that he wants to charge people for the acres of the two and a half acres around their house, this is totally wrong, Minister. It surely shows that it is the Dublin government, and seeing after Dublin, we see where the tarnish there has said that something will have to be done about the property values in Dublin, houses that are worth millions, and that property tax will have to be reduced for them, but increase it in the rural areas and rural counties like Kerry, where we don't have the services that the people in the urban areas have. I'm supporting this, Minister, because the people of rural Ireland are being left down again. This is another attack.
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