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FIANNA FÁIL, FINE Gael, Labour, and the Green Party will form a ruling coalition on Dublin City Council that is likely to see local property tax paid by residents of the capital increase, raising an additional €60m for the city over the next five years.
The coalition is also calling for an introduction of a hotel tourist tax.
The Greens and Labour entered talks in recent days to form a left-leaning alliance with the Social Democrats and Sinn Féin, but Labour walked away over Sinn Féin’s insistence on offering Dublin homeowners a 15% discount on their annual property tax bill.
Sinn Féin councillor Daithí Doolan criticised the planned increase in property tax which he said would hurt households “struggling with the cost-of-living crisis”.
He criticised Labour leader Ivana Bacik on the party’s decision to join an alliance at local authority level with parties of central government.
The new controlling alliance, which will be supported by some independents, has pledged to set property tax at its base rate for the coming five-year council term. This would mean an increase in property tax because, to date, Dublin City Council has applied the maximum possible reduction in property tax of 15% each year.
The hike in property tax for Dubliners is not a done deal however, as councillors will get a free vote when the matter is dealt with in September.
The increased income from higher property tax will be ringfenced for social housing maintenance, street cleaning and a new fund for playgrounds.
Labour councillor Darragh Moriarty said that the agreement on property tax would greatly improve Dublin.
“Over the last ten years, the majority on the Council has voted in favour of Local Property Tax cuts, squandering €125 million that could have been invested in Dublin,” he said.
“For the first time, we will now be able to restore Local Property Tax to its baseline level, meaning we can raise around €60 million over the lifetime of this council term to put directly back into Dublin.”
He also said that Labour councillors regretted that the Social Democrats and Sinn Féin held a different view on property tax but said that “funding vital local services matters more” to Labour than “optics”.
Hotel tax is intended to to be used to raise funds for city services and enable reduced commercial rates for smaller businesses in the capital.
In January of last year, the outgoing Dublin City Council’s finance committee proposed a 1% hotel tax. The tax was said to have been able to raise up to €12 million at the time, which would have gone towards regenerating the city.
The proposal was criticised by Limerick TD and then junior minister at the Department of of Tourism, Fine Gael’s Patrick O’Donovan.
O’Donovan, speaking on Today with Claire Byrne at the time, said that the council made enough money from property tax and commercial rates.
Tourism taxes are applied in many European cities, including Venice, Manchester, Barcelona and Lisbon.
At this evening’s annual Dublin City Council meeting, Fine Gael councillor James Geoghegan was elected the 356th Lord Mayor of Dublin.
He beat newly-elected Social Democrats councillor Daniel Ennis to the role with 32 votes to 25, with four abstensions.
Geoghegan, who was first elected in 2019, is the first Fine Gael councillor to be elected as Lord Mayor in 12 years.
Speaking following his election, Geoghegan said he was “honoured and humbled”.
He said his mission as Lord Mayor will be “to reclaim the essence of Dublin so that we can show the world the best of ourselves and the best of what we can be”.
“As Lord Mayor, I promise to treat every member of this chamber equally, and I will ensure that the voice of every person with a democratic mandate in this room is heard,” he said.
“I will not be afraid of expressing political opinions, and I will not shy away from calling out prejudice of any form, whether based on race, ethnicity, sexuality or gender.”
Green Party councillor Donna Cooney was also elected Deputy Lord Mayor of the city during the meeting. She received 32 votes compared to 28 votes for Sinn Féin councillor Janice Boylan, with two abstentions.
Newly elected far-right councillors Gavin Pepper and Malachy Steenson abstained for both votes.
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Squeezing the good people again so they are.
@Sean Money: unfortunately as someone has to pay for your dole money
@Ger Whelan: must be all the tax avoidance by your class
@jiminybillybob: what’s wrong with tax avoidance? I’d prefer to give it to my fellow capitalist accountant than spend it on welfare layabouts. Simples really
@jiminybillybob: with an account name like that one it’s clear people like me are definitely paying for you’re dole money.
@John D Doe: you need to be a bit more nuanced with your wind ups John. It’s too obvious right now.
@John D Doe: So pensioners and the disabled community who receive welfare payments are welfare layabouts.
what does that say about you as a person that you think that!
@Ger Whelan: a very nasty person aren’t you
@Gary Kearney: my money is well spent, in all guises :)
@Tired Jim: Which country is that?
@Diarmuid Hunt: LaLa land.
@Ger Whelan: council money does not pay dole money
@John D Doe: simples, just like yourself
They never have enough, what sort of management is there if all they can ever do is look for extra tax and never ever work with what they have!!
@Pat Thornton: Sickening. Govt budget is up 30%+ since 2019 because of all the extra income tax and vat they’re taking in. We’re being fleeced with outdated taxation after 20%+ inflation
Taxing a person’s home while refusing to take account of income or ability to pay, yes Liebour’s way. Remember how you vote.
@Eileen Kelly: simplistic nonsense, property tax is a progressive tax that in this instance will put an additional €60 million into Dublin, hopefully an investment in struggling communities in better sports and recreation. SF and the SocDems will enjoy their moment of populism and will lie about finding the €60m down the back of a couch
@Eileen Kelly: we must be the only country that you get feck all for your property tax, country is a pure rip off, no wonder you hear of so many dodgy dealings
@Terry Brophy: So bring in a Tourism tax of 6%, According the figures that brings in an extra 72 mill a year. Ring fence that for local improvements in community and tourism attractions and keep the 15% discount currently being imposed on property taxation.
@Terry Brophy: think the figure they said was 15,m.
@Terry Brophy: fg said only a few short years ago that it was morally wrong to tax a person’s home.
Come to Dublin, pay a tax for the privilege of being beaten and robbed on the streets. Does that open up possibility of tourists suing the council after paying a tax and then being injured, maimed, killedz robbed etc…
Surely the tax should go to putting Garda on every corner… Just saying…
@Rafa C: Put as many Garda on the streets as you want it won’t make a difference. No point arresting the little low lives when judges keep letting them walk out for court to recommit
@Ger Whelan: Well then lets not do anything and let Darwinism trickle its way through the system…
@Ger Whelan: you mean after some low life punches the head of some poor girl and walks away scott free,great little country we have
@Rafa C: might as well. Our judges have shown that you can punch the head off a woman, run away home, go online and post a video bragging about it saying 2 to put her down 2 to put her out. Get arrested and lie to the Garda claiming self defence when CCTV footage shows it wasn’t self defence, plead guilty and get off Scott free.
@Ger Whelan: but that has nothing to do with putting more Garda on the streets. Maybe if there was help for her would have come sooner
It’s ridiculous having a tourist tax, we should be enticing people to visit the country.
@Paul Somers: If tourists can afford the already exorbitant prices of hotels etc in Dublin, they can probably afford the tourist tax.
@Paul Somers: Yea, they should just take the same amount and add it to our taxes. lol
@Paul Somers: Was In Salou twice last year,they have it,I know its different comparing,think it was a extra €12 euro,could be wrong but stayed in two different places and charged different prices for it.
@Daniel Roche: plenty of places have a tourist tax. Why wouldn’t they: tourists are using all local amenities.
@Alan: I have no issue with it buy was charged two different prices,was just wondering
@Paul Somers: Most tourists are just like you and me, so why entice them to a country, where they are going to be fleeced, where all the profits go into the rip-off merchant’s pockets, where staff are paid less than minimum wage and taxpayers subsidise their profits.
@Daniel Roche: same happened me aswell not long ago , not sure what that’s about
@ecrowley ecrowley: that’s irrelevant. The bonus of the dollar being on par with the euro sees Americans coming over. But are gouged everywhich way -
Why would anyone give the basket case DCC any more money? Their track record is appalling!
@Padraig O’Brien: employ contractors to do jobs council workers used to do. No checks on the quality of work carried out just pay them!!!
@paul Somers almost every single city I have visited has a tourist tax , doesn’t seem to deter tourists
@Peter Byrne: thats because every other city bar a small few are a lot cheaper to visit,and dont gouge the tourist like the greedy irish
@David Clarke: wtf are you waffling about? Have you ever visited any major capital in Europe? They all gouge tourists. It’s disgraceful.
@David Clarke: 3 Euro a pint here in Santa Ponsa
@Peter Byrne: That’s right Peter but when you not being ripped off for everything else you don’t mind paying for it.
@Ian: Firstly, Dublin isn’t “a major capital”. Second, Dublin is much more expensive than most cities of similar size in Europe. In Seville, for example, you can buy a beer for €3.50 (less if you wander out of the center) and a meal for two will set you back less than €50 in most decent places.
@Ian: It’s standard capitalist practice. Make hay while the sun shines..
@Ken Fitzsimons: Jeez! I prefer to pay 10 Euro a pint and not have to be there.
@Peter Byrne: bring in a tent tax too
@Ken Fitzsimons: loc wage is less then our minimum. It’s not cheaper for locals
@Ian: that’s rubbish. Dublin hotels probably the dearest in Europe.
Every time they raise taxes it is for the roads, housing, playgrounds, yada yada yada. Their addiction to other people’s money and endeavor is outrageous.
They had good local elections and now they have the confidence to increase property tax,give them long enough and you will be paying water charges to a private entity,getting brave already,and why not,because the people will continue to vote same old same old and nothing changes
@David Clarke: They had a crises of conscience some years ago as to whether Toll Charges on East Link should be abolished as it had paid for itself. They decided to retain charges and surprisingly they have increased annually since
Tax workers more!
Reward the lazy more!
Why don’t the rural councils raise their own taxes and pay their own way?
@brian o’leary: They do.
@brian o’leary: Why don’t I raise my own taxes and pay my own way! s\
@Nick Vasilakis: they don’t pay their own way, read the article, money gets redistributed from larger councils ( Dublin property owners)
@Nick Vasilakis: No they do not, it all goes into a central fund and then the government issue it. Dublin City has supported other counties with Dubliners property tax since it cane it.
If all the Dublin Councils got to keep the tax, there would be no shortage of funds to fix the city
@brian o’leary: To the best of my knowledge LPT transfers don’t happen any more and the article is wrong.
@brian o’leary: they do
“Over the last ten years, the majority on the Council has voted in favour of Local Property Tax cuts, squandering €125 million that could have been invested in Dublin,” he said.
As the article states, a proportion of the property tax collected in Dubllin is distributed to smaller rural councils. So it is a bare-faced lie to say all that money would have been invested in Dublin.
And most hoseholds in Dublin must have been very grateful that the LPT wasn’t increased with so many struggling with the cost of living.
Labour deserves to be wiped out in Dublin at the next general election.
“I am going to reward those who get up early and go to work “-Varadkar (hahahahahahaha)
Last time they introduced a tax to pay for playgrounds and so on all funds were used to set up Irish water …
Just jeep hitting the working people,the ones which keep it afloat. I reckon eventually they’ll go after people’s homes when it comes time to get old age pension. We have an aging population,huge influx of immigration and a dwindling birth rate,the funds and workers wont be there to sustain huge portion of people claiming pensions so something will have to give. What better than to go after people’s homes and say they’ve no choice,neither will we. Like Japan and Italy we’re heading same way except worse with a massive housing shortage to boot. Those in charge are asleep to what’s coming and couldn’t care less they’ll have they’re massive guaranteed pensions and mortgage free massive homes. They’re children will be well protected as well financially so sod the Joe soaps again. People think it wont happen don’t be fooled what’s running the country has created the mess which is now slowly worsening.
Well guys, you voted for them.
And this.
Some one has to pay for all the tents so be quite nothing to see here
Well done to Paul Murphy on taking on SIPO.in the Courts. There was never a chance that SIPO were ever going to do anything about Varadkar”s leaking of confidential information. This ruling is the begining of a process to make people who think they are a ove the law accountable. There should also be an Appeals process available, as SIPO know that any decision they make is final. We need to end corruption in Daily Eireann.
@Patrick MC Dermott: Well said. SIPO should be disbanded, a total waste of money & possibly the most inept Quango in the history of the State, from Varadkar to Votegate to Troy, they never take any action. The political class doing as they wish, never any repercussions, same with the Electoral Commission, never challenged the lies told to the Irish public by Roderic O Gorman & Catherine Martin during the Referendums. Hate speech to be brought in now & used as a threat to silence everyone, a tactic used by Putin to be introduced now in Ireland.
Be no tourists left second most expensive country in Europe
We all know how expensive it is to holiday in Ireland and in particular Dublin, then adding any additional taxes to in top of other expenses will put people of coming to the capital
Left leaning are you serious and the first thing they do is tax the people of the city.
If instead of let DCC management spend millions on their own plans, Strand Road for example , the second College Green plan, after the first one was rejected, the white water rafting center, among many other similar schemes.
They would have the money and the staff to fix the roads and the footpaths.
Pushing their own agenda and not what is best for the city or its people but their middle class/upper middle class, version of it.
@Gary Kearney: Councillors decide the revenue budget and capital spending plans of the council, so they do have the power. The fact that most don’t exercise that power is on them. Also, left leaning means that you want to increase public spending and as such will need to raise taxes to pay for that increase.
@The next small thing: That is not what left leaning means.
Left leaning means that wealth should be more fairly distributed.
That does not mean taxing people’s homes.
Particularly the less well off.
Taking money from people to distribute to business interests?
Now that is neo-liberal (Thatcherite), or right wing, economics.
I am shocked and disappointed with Labour. They are not real Labour but Champagne stockists. Terrible news for ordinary people
@John Hally: doesn’t matter how you spin it, a property tax is a progressive tax but hey attack the people wanting to create more money for the city and it’s services
@John Hally: I’m shocked that everyone doesn’t know of Labour being Champagne socialists.
Basically, the political wing of the upper ranks of the teachers and public service unions.
Another BS article justifying inept government.
Hahahahahaha to all those that voted for these parties in the local elections
Already 2nd most expensive country in Europe. How much more can we give?
Good, that’s what they get for inflicting Bertie on us over the years.
Have to comment as journal is undemocratic and decides what we can and cannot comment on.Mc entee strikes again a totally useless justice minister,prepared to stand over a probation sentence for a man supposed to serve and protect our state,for knocking the living day lights out of a young lady a very brave one at that,repeatedly punching her in the head and while she was on the ground.The mind boggles at our judges and their ineptitude to judicate proper sentences,we can only hope the dpp appeal this travesty,shame on mc entee but nothing new with her…..soft on crime
Labour back in a wet minute and join with greens and dg to add to our taxes how about a levy as well everything has a levy as well now vote these lads out
Clean and safer streets given as the reason for hikes. Where are the funds from the central exchequer and business rates going. Property taxes are a double taxation. Every council and government agency has farmed out their services costing more money for their services and the tax payers gets gouged. The safety issue can’t be solved by any council because there are too few gardai as it is and renta cops are toothless entities. The extra rates must be to close off more streets
Ah labour in a wet week and already want to up taxes people just don’t learn from the last time they were in now add the green goblins and fg and u have the perfect storm
Problem is sorted if everyone don’t pay it
@Alan Moloney: they have the ability to remove it at source, they always get their pound of flesh
That’s what the Islamo leftists do. TAXES because they can’t understand how to cut back on spending taxes payers money.
It’s always the same thing with leftists, getting rich on the top of working people.
Just when you think ‘ Labour will have learned their lesson’ Bye Bye Labour.
@Karl Phillips: yep power hungry. And remember Ivana was huge supporter of failed referendums.
And on and on it goes
As if Dublin isn’t expensive already without taxing the poor people even more who for some reason decide to come here for their holidays.
Two pieces of good news, there.
@Shane O Neill: Don’t forget who your masters are
@Shane O Neill: So naive, Coming to a council near you soon !
After such a score at the local and European they just feel entitled and will do more without fear, like a big long finger at people now
Tourismus Tax is great and can help establish a decent public transport system. The tourist gets to use it for free and the locals get a better service. Check out the same tax I. The Black Forest area (KONUS CARD or one in Basel)
@Lina Stein: Still won’t be a train station at the airport though. 2 trains, a bus, a train, a bus, and a 42 minute walk.
Most if not all countries have property tax or something similar, so if you are renting you do not pay. DCC should do what every borough council in England does, everyone pays local taxes whether they own a property or not. Tourist Tax is charged almost everywhere
@Peter Byrne: Renters are the payers of any property tax.
And just because others do something does not make it right or proper.
Particularly for us.
No matter what way you want to look at it, our homes are our refuge, our refuge from the trials of life, our refuge from the state, our refuge in times of strife and stress, and particularly our refuge in old age.
No one can truly own “their” home if they can be charged to live in it.
That is all this FFG cabal know. Tax people to death to benefit those who choose not to work. What a truly disgusting country we live in.
Works out at about 50 quid a year extra for homes in the 300-400k bracket. The landlords in Dublin city can well afford to pay it.
@Aisling Farrell: Amazing the howls of protest over a quid a week isn’t it
Hmmn. Given that in equalisation part of the local property tax was done away with recently preventing LPT from say Dublin City council going to for example Roscommon county council and Dublin City council were expecting way more funds as a result €16-20m but only ended up with about €4m extra as other items to do with roads etc. were then directed to be paid for out of the extra money when they previously had government grants covering them, won’t any increase only meet the same fate? You’ll just end up paying more and that money paying for things that were already covered. In other words, no improvement.
Tourists go home. You spoil prices, can’t go on a vacation myself here
You get what you vote for I suppose!?!?
Expected nothing more from FF,FG,GP,but labour are not to be trusted.Going forward be careful who you vote for in general election.Ireland a great country to rip you off and get nothing in return.
Just to pay increasing salaries, certainly not to pay for services, the services have reduced over years.
Will people protest… No. People used to taking in up the Aras at this stage, broken.
Won’t happen in DLRCOCO
@You’re Not Serious: They are even worse! Most anti disabled council in the country!
Is the property tax not based on the value of your house. Do owners of a house in Galway/Cork/Donegal/Dublin worth €400,000 not all pay the same property tax.
The €60 Million won’t last long when the Pyjama brigade ring the Local Council to come & collect the sofa they throw out on the green area, to make way for the new one courtesy of their CWO & the Hotel Tax will be another excuse to avoid rip off Dublin. Didn’t take long after been voted back in, for FFGLab to impose more tax increases.
What am I missing,seems since the local end EU elections,the parties r making decisions and laws like its the General election they won..at least they r doing something in Ireland,coz sick of hearing about this wetting land its law from the EU,culling the herd,EU law,Nature Restoration laws from the EU,migration Pact from the EU, Hate laws EU,t’s more in their line to put our Country right and let the people know they have the Irish government and the Garda on their side,all these judges need to have had these laws changed years ago,they have no problem standing with an Vulcher fund evicting a family,dont ask did yee try to come to agreement,he nos the funds dont,lady was followed by migrants,4 times she has had to ring the Garda,only she threatened to go on they r looking into it.EF EU
The Lord may giveth, but the Socialists taketh away. They know best.
@Derick R M: Socialists, ???? fgff greens and now labour.
Hardly socialists.
I’d usually be more articulate in expressing my opinions… but seriously… just fook right off.
First, Hotels were asked to support government with immigration crisis and now they’re paying for it. Of course, it will go from tourist pockets, but … with the prices currently many people will choose different country for holidays.
Higher property taxes for homeowners will lead to another increase in rents, it will also affect peoples budget who are currently struggling. The government is increasing everywhere they could, and keeps what was advising was only temporary still in place as it’s providing money for them.
What kind of tax will be next? Rain tax as it’s raining nearly every day in Ireland?!
Looks like the government making me drop my pants and beak out the lube again !!!!!
I wish they get hit by a bus.
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