asked the Minister for Finance whether he is aware that the existing regulations for the exclusion of towns with up to 2,000 population from the dance tax operates to exclude one town in County Monaghan while admitting all the others, and whether he will consider increasing the minimum population to 3,000.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Incidence of Dance Tax in Monaghan.
23.
The exemption to which the Deputy refers has the effect of exempting wide areas throughout the country from all liability to entertainments duty. I shall again be reviewing the incidence of this duty in connection with next year's Budget and will bear these representations in mind. The Deputy will appreciate that I cannot say any more at this stage.
Perhaps the Minister would bear in mind that in Monaghan this regulation has the anomalous result of exempting every town in the county except the town of Monaghan and that that obviously makes a local problem of peculiar difficulty. Perhaps the Minister would bear that in mind, remembering that the county is now described as an underdeveloped area.
You have the same problem in every county practically. Wherever you draw the line, there will be an anomaly.
While I fully appreciate the Minister's difficulty, I think he will agree that in Monaghan a very peculiar anomaly arises in that every town is exempt except one.