Catalonia self-determination and property tax
Senator McDowell reflected on the irony of Irish support for Catalan secession, prompting interjections from Senator Ó Clochartaigh. He then raised local property tax concerns, contrasting high Dublin prices with better value elsewhere in the country.
Regarding some of the remarks passed earlier, I too, like many others, was deeply upset by the violence we saw in Catalonia on our television screens. However, I will raise one point by way of observation: it is strange that in this House and this country, there should be such active support for the right of a north-eastern portion of any country, which is more prosperous than the rest of that country, to secede. I will just make the point that there is a particular irony in that, especially when the Sinn Féin Party gets active about the right of people from a north-eastern corner to secede from their country-----
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It is the right to self-determination.
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We should have the debate then.
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The point I wish to make concerns the local property tax. I note in today's newspaper that a small one-bedroom worker's cottage in Colliers Avenue in Ranelagh sold for over €300,000. That is €1,000 per square foot. I looked at comparable prices - what one would get for that kind of money - in the midlands of this country on one of these property sites and noticed one house with six bedrooms, loose boxes, a one-acre paddock and tarmacadamed driveways for the same price in the midlands. I will not mention where it is because I do not want to wreck the prospects of whoever is selling it. That a tiny cottage - and it is tiny - could attract the same liability in taxes to support local government services as a very extensive house with outhouses, paddocks, loose boxes and six bedrooms in the midlands underlines the unfairness of the local property tax to people who live in Dublin.
The Government is talking about reviewing the local property tax and such a review is more than overdue at this point. Due to no fault or action of their own, it is getting more and more expensive for people in some areas to live in very modest homes. Those individuals are entitled to some justice. I ask the Leader to request that the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, come before the House to explain why he thinks the local property tax is working out fairly. I think it is deeply unjust.