Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 13 November 2012
444. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government when a reply will issue in respect of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49603/12]
View answerI understand that the person referred to in the question has raised the issue of whether it is fair to withhold General Purpose Grant funding to local authorities on the basis of poor Household Charge compliance rates.
The two principal sources of revenue for the Local Government Fund are the proceeds of motor tax and the income from the Household Charge. The Local Government (Household Charge) Act 2011 provides that income from the Household Charge is to be paid into the Local Government Fund. The proceeds from the Household Charge are being re-distributed on an equalised basis to local authorities within the context of the annual allocations of General Purpose Grants.
General Purpose Grants contribute towards meeting the reasonable cost to local authorities of providing services to their customers. Some €651m in General Purpose Grants had been allocated to local authorities for 2012. It has been necessary for me to reduce General Purpose Grant funding to local authorities in the third quarter of this year in light of the level of compliance with the household charge.
It is estimated that there are some 1.6 million residential properties potentially liable for the Household Charge. As such, if collected in full, the Household Charge has the potential to raise €160 million annually. As of 9 November 2012 some €109m had been collected nationally. A total of €15,695,292 was withheld from the Quarter 3 General Purpose Grant payment. For county and city councils, this represented a reduction of between 1% and 3% of the total General Purpose Grant allocation for 2012.
I am keeping the income generated from the Household Charge under constant review and those local authorities that achieve a collection rate of 65% or above will suffer no further reduction in their General Purpose Grant allocation for 2012. However, it is up to individual local authorities to address any potential funding shortfalls arising from non-compliance with the legislation and to pursue those who may have a liability and initiate court proceedings, where it is considered appropriate. Non-compliance by liable owners does, however, result in reduced resources for local authorities to support communities and this places a greater burden on those owners who do pay the Charge.
I am confident that the level of General Purpose Grants, together with other Government grants and subsidies and income raised from local sources, is appropriate to meet the costs of providing a reasonable level of local authority services to communities.
