I thank the Minister of State for being here to respond to my Commencement matter. I am looking for an update from Government on the proposal to give powers to local authorities to raise revenues. The Minister of State is a great friend of local authorities and all 31 of them do invaluable work in all of our communities across the country. However, local authorities are highly dependent on centralised Government funding. While they have powers to raise revenues through the LPT and rates, they struggle to meet all of their financial commitments. There has been discussion for many years about giving more powers to local government. I commend the Minister of State and the Government on the undertaking it has given in the local democracy task force. It recently completed its report, and we look forward to Government's response to that.

Today I would specifically like to address the proposal coming from Dublin city councillors. Councillor Daryl Barron is the Fianna Fáil group leader on Dublin City Council. Daryl, the Fianna Fáil group and other councillors on Dublin City Council have been proposing and working with the executive functions to develop a visitor tax. The reason a visitor tax is required is because Dublin city has a population of between 500,000 and 600,000 based on the most recent census, but we get millions of visitors. What happens in Dublin city is repeated in towns all over the country like Killarney, Westport, Cork, Carrick-on-Shannon and in counties like Sligo and Leitrim. Of course, acting chair, there is also Carlow and Kilkenny. All of our local authorities not only provide for their residents but for all the visitors. Last year, Ireland had approximately 6.7 million visitors to our beautiful island. That is great and we welcome them, but with all of those visitors comes a lot of extra wear and tear. If you have a private house with three or five people living in it but that is having visitors all of the time, the wear and tear is significant. There is extra litter, extra traffic and extra noise. There are all of the extras that are required. The Fianna Fáil group on Dublin City Council has been proposing a visitor tax. It is common internationally. If you go to stay in Madrid, Rome or Amsterdam, when you pay for your accommodation you will pay a nominal charge. Dublin City Council has examined this levy. It has looked at it with the executive functions but also with independent experts. What they are proposing is a small per-night charge or percentage of the accommodation cost.

For local authorities to introduce such a visitor tax would require legislation. My Commencement is seeking an update from the Minister of State, the Department of Finance and the Department of local government on where Government stands on that proposal.

Will the Government bring forward legislation that will empower and enable local authorities in their own right, in their own areas, to introduce a visitor tax?

I thank the Senator. We get visitors in Mullingar and Athlone as well. When she was going through all the regional towns, she forgot to mention some of mine.

I thank her for once again giving me the opportunity to update the House today on behalf of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on local authorities’ powers to raise revenues annually. I know this is an issue on which the Senator has been extremely active and vocal.

The system of funding local government in Ireland is a complex one, as local authorities derive their income from a range of local sources including commercial rates, charges for goods and services provided and local property tax as well as grants from various Government Departments and State agencies. On average, in 2024, nearly 50% of local authorities’ revenue income was generated locally. This locally raised income is crucial as it funds the operation of local authorities and their core service provision. A fundamental prerequisite for effective local democracy is that elected councils have a strong measure of financial power and discretion and corresponding responsibility.

In line with commitments in the programme for Government, a local democracy task force was established with the local government sector to finalise a programme for the reform and strengthening of local government. The terms of reference for the task force, agreed by the Government, set out an ambitious and detailed work programme relating to structure, finance, functions and the governance and accountability of all local authorities. The task force was specifically asked to consider ways for local authorities to increase fiscal autonomy through the number of own resources by reviewing existing revenue-raising and debt management options and new or alternative revenue-raising powers. The task force examined ways in which local authorities can better leverage existing sources of income, local authority borrowing, decision-making with regard to local property tax and potential new sources of income for local authorities. The task force has submitted its report to the Ministers in the Department, who are considering the range of recommendations and intend to bring it to the Government for consideration along with a high-level implementation plan shortly.

The task force specifically considered if local authorities should be able to introduce a charge on overnight stays in their areas, noting the Government’s previous agreement to same. In June 2025, the Government noted the report of the interdepartmental group on the Dublin city centre task force and approved the overall approach set out in that proposed roadmap for delivery of the Dublin city task force report. The interdepartmental group recommends that a detailed proposal for an accommodation tax at a national level, applicable to all local authorities on an opt-in basis, be developed by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Work on the proposal is being progressed by both Departments in conjunction with the oversight board that is in place to oversee delivery of the roadmap for Dublin city.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Minister of State. I welcome the confirmation from the Government of its commitment to give powers to local authorities to introduce, if they so choose, a visitor charge. It is very welcome that the Government is supporting this initiative from local authorities. Each local authority is an independent authority and will determine in its own good time and based on its own circumstances the appropriateness or not of a visitor tax. It is the Government's job to support our local authorities to operate to their maximum capacity. In committing to introducing legislation and supporting the local authorities by giving them those powers, the Government is doing a good job for local authorities. The Minister of State might bring back to the Department that I would be keen to get a clearer visibility on the timelines. Obviously, there will be a budget in October. Each local authority makes its annual budget towards the end of the year. It will be really important for local authorities to know in advance of making their annual budget when they will have these powers available to them because it will potentially be of huge benefit to them.

I thank Senator Fitzpatrick very much. While it is fair that we acknowledge that the Government's funding to local authorities has increased considerably over the last number of years, it is also important to recognise that local authorities need the power and autonomy to be able to raise their own money to invest in the provision of services and to build out and develop the offering that each local authority has. The Senator makes very valid points. There is agreement in terms of the line of direction we are going in this area. The only uncertainty is maybe the timeframe.

Yes.

We, as a Government, across all our Departments, need to be much clearer when we commission a report on the timeframe for when that report will be published and, more importantly, the implementation of recommendations. We need to be much more efficient as a Government in doing that. I will take on board what the Senator said today and relay it back, in the first instance, to the two Departments that are working on this, namely, Department of enterprise and tourism and the Department of local government.