asked the Minister for Finance the particular circumstances which caused the total rateable valuation of property in the Saint Kevin's ward in the County Borough of Dublin to be increased by 78 per cent this year.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Dublin Property Valuation.
17.
I would refer the Deputy to my predecessor's replies of 1st March, 1966 and 26th May, 1966, to previous questions by him, in which it was explained that inquiries about the rateability of particular properties should be addressed to the local authorities concerned.
Can the Minister say how many properties are involved here? I am not concerned with a particular property; I am concerned that in one ward alone in Dublin the total valuation of all the properties in that area was increased by 78 per cent in one financial year, which appears to be an extraordinary increase. I am concerned to know why in the St. Kevin's Ward there was a 78 per cent overall increase. Surely there must be some peculiar and local reason?
As I say it is not my responsibility to provide the Deputy with this information, but I think there are roughly 208 revisions.
Does the Minister refuse to give a reply in this House when the information is more reasonably accessible to him than it is to private individuals who are concerned with a general problem, not a particular problem, affecting a substantial part of the city?
Is the Deputy a member of Dublin Corporation?
The purpose of Question Time is for Private Members to elicit information from Ministers, not vice versa.
If the Deputy is a member of Dublin Corporation, I want to tell him that Dublin Corporation publishes a revised list of valuations which he can consult and any citizen can consult, and which will give him all the information he wants.
But the Minister, through the operations of the Commissioner of Valuation, for whom he is responsible, has this information in his office already and he refuses to give it here to the House. It is quite clear that the direction to increase valuations came from the Minister.
Nonsense. That is a typically false allegation from Deputy Ryan.
It is the most outrageous increase ever. It means an increase of up to £1 per week in rent alone, in St. Kevin's, Rathmines, Donnybrook and other places.
Deputy Ryan is the most irresponsible Deputy in this House, and that unfounded and untrue allegation is typical of him.
Considering the level of irresponsibility of the Minister, not to talk of the irresponsibility behind him, I take that as a compliment.