Carol Nolan criticises LPT, urges tax on vulture funds
Carol Nolan criticised the Local Property Tax (LPT), calling it fundamentally unfair to ordinary homeowners and urging taxation be directed at large investment and vulture funds instead. She welcomed measures in the bill to introduce tiered rates, expand exemptions for defective concrete blocks and give local authorities greater flexibility.
She cited Offaly County Council figures: the council generated approximately €4.9 million in local property tax in 2024 against a baseline of €11.2 million and received about €6.2 million in the 2025 distribution of equalisation funding.
Nolan argued the heart of the matter is the fundamental unfairness of LPT - that people who work, save and buy a home continue to pay increasing rates on that home, which they may own outright until the day they die. She noted the bill seeks to introduce tiered rates for higher-value properties to make contributions more proportional.
She welcomed proposals to expand LPT exemptions for homeowners affected by defective concrete blocks in certain counties and said she hoped similar latitude would be given if further counties are found to be affected.
Nolan urged the State to seek every way possible to tax vulture funds and investment funds that she said are pricing Irish couples and families out of the market and contributing to the housing collapse for ordinary people.
While insisting LPT remains flawed in principle, she accepted that, if LPT is here to stay, the bill attempts to introduce fairer calculation methods, support homeowners affected by defective concrete blocks, provide local authorities with greater flexibility and adjust deferral thresholds for inflation.
Local figures
She cited Offaly County Council figures: the council generated approximately €4.9 million in local property tax in 2024 against a baseline of €11.2 million and received about €6.2 million in the 2025 distribution of equalisation funding.
Unfairness of LPT
Nolan argued the heart of the matter is the fundamental unfairness of LPT - that people who work, save and buy a home continue to pay increasing rates on that home, which they may own outright until the day they die. She noted the bill seeks to introduce tiered rates for higher-value properties to make contributions more proportional.
Defective concrete blocks
She welcomed proposals to expand LPT exemptions for homeowners affected by defective concrete blocks in certain counties and said she hoped similar latitude would be given if further counties are found to be affected.
Targeting investment funds
Nolan urged the State to seek every way possible to tax vulture funds and investment funds that she said are pricing Irish couples and families out of the market and contributing to the housing collapse for ordinary people.
Assessment of the bill
While insisting LPT remains flawed in principle, she accepted that, if LPT is here to stay, the bill attempts to introduce fairer calculation methods, support homeowners affected by defective concrete blocks, provide local authorities with greater flexibility and adjust deferral thresholds for inflation.
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Transcript
I welcome this debate and indeed many of the provisions of this particular bill. I am aware that my own local authority, Offaly County Council, generated approximately €4.9 million in local property tax in 2024, but also that our baseline was €11.2 million. This means we received about €6.2 million in that 2025 distribution of equalisation funding. While that is welcome within the confines of the local property tax system, the heart of the matter remains around the fundamental unfairness of LPT as a tax in and of itself. People work, save for years, pay their taxes, buy a home and then they must continue to pay increasing rates of tax on that home which they may own outright until the day they die. I do note however that the bill allows for tiered rates for higher value properties to ensure that higher value properties contribute proportionally more, aligning with principles of fairness in taxation. Would we all know Minister that house prices prices are radically out of step with actual value. There is scope for a significant amount of inequity to flow into the LPT system. I do welcome proposals to expand LPT exemption for defective concrete blocks in some counties and I would hope that if more counties were found to be affected by this issue that they too will receive similar latitude. What I really think we should be doing however is finding every way possible to tax not the ordinary homeowner and the ordinary worker but the massive vulture funds and investment funds that are swooping in and wiping out any possibility of Irish couples and families from bidding on and owning their own home. So while we are here today discussing local property tax we have to accept that we desperately need an urgent debate on how our taxation and property purchasing systems are facilitating the expansion of the housing collapse for ordinary people. I do accept Minister that as the LPT is apparently here to stay at least there is an attempt in this bill to introduce a fair LPT calculation method that supports homeowners affected by defective concrete blocks and to provide local authorities with greater flexibility and to adjust deferral how thresholds to account for inflation. Thank you Deputy Deputy Deputy Deputy Deputy Deputy Deputy Deputy Deputy Deputy Deputy Deputy Dr.