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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 4 Mar 1969

Vol. 238 No. 14

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Rates Charges.

47.

asked the Minister for Local Government whether he is aware of the ever-increasing rates burden on householders whose incomes are inadequate to bear it; whether any action is contemplated to remove certain charges from the present rates; and whether such action will be effective this year.

As already indicated by me, arrangements for dealing with the rates liability of necessitous persons generally, including, in particular, householders, are being reviewed in the light of the recommendations made on the subject in the Third Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Local Government Finance and Taxation. Ratepayers generally continue to be protected against the full impact of the cost of the services provided by local authorities by virtue of the massive central government support of local expenditure which, in the current year, is estimated at £58 million, representing 51 per cent of the total revenue expenditure of local authorities.

Is the Minister aware there are several people whose incomes can be described as being about £15 to £17 a week who are being asked to meet a bill this month of between £80 and £100 each, despite what the Minister describes as the massive Government subvention? The figures which ordinary citizens are being asked to fork out by way of rates are impossible and are leading to a great deal of distress. When do the Government intend to act on the inter-departmental report which gave various solutions?

I take it the Deputy is in favour of the solutions put forward.

What the Deputy is saying is that the Minister should get off his hind legs and start doing something.

Rates, as a percentage of gross national produce, have fallen from 3.4 per cent in 1958 to 3.06 per cent in 1966-67 and the Government's contribution has gone up from 43.3 per cent to 51 per cent in the same period.

Is the Minister seriously saying that a man with £15 to £17 a week, who has taken on the responsibility of purchasing a house, should be asked to pay a bill each year of £100 in rates?

Arrangements are being made to provide that rates may be paid by instalments.

(Cavan): Is the Minister aware that people living in labourers' cottages and existing on social welfare benefits are liable for as much as £26 or £27 a year in rates? Is not that unreasonable?

As I have said, arrangements for dealing with the rates liability of necessitous persons are being reviewed.

(Cavan): These people cannot wait.

Would the Minister have the health charges removed from the rates, thereby bringing the rates down to realistic figures?

Money will still have to be raised by somebody. The biggest part of the health charges is paid by the taxpayers.

Have not the local authorities the power to remit rates in certain cases?

What about having a differential rates system? Where there is an absence of income in the home, could not the rates be reduced?

48.

asked the Minister for Local Government if, in view of the ever-increasing rates and the high rate in the £1 that has to be struck by county councils in the counties on the western seaboard and the underdeveloped areas, he will consider giving a grant from central funds for the relief of rates on property in these areas, as is given for health services, agricultural land, etc.

All State grants to local authorities, by reducing the amount which the local authorities would otherwise require to raise in order to finance expenditure, have the effect of relieving local rates. While the grant structure is being examined in the course of the investigations into the system of local finance and taxation, the present range of State grants continues to meet a significantly greater proportion of local expenditure in the areas referred to by the Deputy than in the country as a whole.

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