Dublin Fianna Fail European election candidate Cllr Mary Fitzpatrick said today that homeowners in Dublin must brace themselves for the shock of substantial increases in Local Property Tax charges that will place an unbearable burden on households already struggling to survive.

Cllr. Fitzpatrick said tomorrow is the deadline for compliance under the 2014 Property Tax scheme and as the payments are deducted and extracted the full implications of how future charges will spiral in Dublin is emerging.

“With Dublin house prices set to increase by on average 15% this year, and predictions that this trend is expected to continue through next year, then by the time the next updated valuation of property prices under the LPT takes place in 2016 the value of properties in Dublin will have further outstripped the rest of the country”, Cllr Fitzpatrick said. “And when you include the fact that the four Dublin councils will be in a position from September 2014 to apply an increase of up to 15% in the rate of property value in their area then the full implications of the impending massive rise in property taxes Dublin homeowners are facing is plain for all to see”.

She said increases in property tax charges in Dublin will place an unbearable additional burden on households already struggling to survive as austerity measures, combined with mortgage payments, price increases and local service charges, drain the finances of households.

Cllr. Fitzpatrick, a member of Dublin City Council for the last 10 years, said last year Dublin property owners paid €100m in property tax, this year it will double to over €200 million and the real betrayal of these people by Government is that they will get none of the promised benefits in return. “Now Minister Hogan has gone back on his promise and denied the Dublin local authorities the tax receipts”, Cllr Fitzpatrick added. “Instead he has squandered the money on expensive consultants to set-up Irish Water to install water meters to extract more money for an unreliable and inadequate water service. Dubliners have every right to be extremely annoyed by this underhand move by the Minister particularly given that there has been an average 90% compliance rate for the property tax across Dublin”.

She said many people took Minister Hogan at his word that 80% of the taxes raised locally would be spent locally and their elected representatives would have a say in how that money is spent in communities across the city. This amounts to a disgraceful betrayal by a Minister who seems intent on consistently centralising power and increasing his control over local authorities.