Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 December 2025
582. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the breakdown of local property tax allocations to Kildare County Council, by municipal district, including north Kildare, for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [72083/25]
View answer583. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the per capita figures for local property tax allocations across all municipal districts in Kildare, including north Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [72084/25]
View answer584. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the way in which population growth in north Kildare has been taken into account in local property tax allocation decisions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [72085/25]
View answer585. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will publish any impact assessments carried out before Kildare County Council applied local property tax variation factors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [72086/25]
View answer586. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the way in which the local property tax equalisation mechanism impacts Kildare County Council's receipts, with particular reference to north Kildare; if he will consider publishing disaggregated data on an annual basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [72087/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 582, 583, 584, 585 and 586 together.
Local Property Tax (LPT) is administered and collected by the Revenue Commissioners and subsequently transferred into the Local Government Fund (LGF). The funds are redistributed, by my Department, to local authorities in accordance with the Government’s allocation policies.
Funding allocations are decided in advance of collection, based on estimates (from the Revenue Commissioners) of the LPT yield in individual local authority areas for the following liability year. Apart from the yield, there are three other factors that ultimately determine the annual LPT allocation for an individual local authority; namely, the local authority’s LPT baseline (minimum funding requirement), the amount of any surplus above an authority’s LPT baseline used to self-fund certain local housing or roads services, and, finally, the local adjustment factor. Under the LPT allocation model, every local authority has a minimum level of funding available to it, known as the baseline. If the estimated LPT yield in a local authority area is lower than an authority’s baseline, the authority is topped-up or equalised to that baseline by the Exchequer via the Local Government Fund. Accordingly, the allocations are determined on a local authority basis, rather than by Municipal District, or any other geographical area. My Department does not collate data regarding any further redistribution of LPT funding by a local authority to a Municipal District, as that is a matter for the authority itself, in accordance with its own budgetary priorities.
The LPT allocation mechanism was changed in 2023 to allow for 100% of the estimated LPT yield to be retained locally within the local authority area where it is collected. As an authority with expected LPT receipts in excess of its baseline, Kildare County Council does not require equalisation funding from the Exchequer, nor does it contribute towards the equalisation funding of other local authorities.
In accordance with the recommendations of the 2023 Baseline Review working group, baselines for each local authority were adjusted for 2024, in accordance with five criteria: population, area, deprivation levels, an authority’s locally raised income and achievement of National Policy Priorities. A summary report which outlines the weighting and application of the criteria to individual baselines is available at this link: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/publications/summary-report-on-local-property-tax-baseline-review-2023/ . Following the review, every authority received an increase in baseline funding of at least €1.5m, including Kildare County Council.
Building on the baseline increase of 2024, there will be a further increase of €2m for Kildare County Council in 2026, in line with the expected increased yield from revaluation expected in the local authority area. Accordingly, Kildare County Council’s baseline is increased by €3.5m, or nearly 30% from 2023 to 2026.
In addition, the allocation model for 2026 is changed to allow those authorities, such as Kildare County Council, with an LPT income above their baseline to retain a greater portion of the surplus for their own use, increasing from 22.5% to 31% of overall yield. The combination of the baseline increase along with the increased surplus retained (i.e. 31%), will lead to an overall increase in own use funding for Kildare County Council in the sum of €7.4m from 2023 to 2026, before any local variation decision is taken into account.
Under section 20 of the Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012, as amended, a local authority may, as a reserved function, resolve to vary the basic rate of the Local Property Tax within its functional area by a maximum of +/- 15%. The decision to vary must be taken by resolution of the Council. While recent changes to the LPT legislation will allow elected members to adjust the Local Adjustment Factor (LAF) upwards to a maximum of 25%; due to the timing of the legislation, commencement of this section will be delayed until the 2027 LPT liability year.
Any variation in the basic rate will have an impact on the local authority, on those paying LPT, and on those receiving council services. An estimation of the financial effect of a variation decision on all stakeholders must be considered in a report prepared under the direction of the Chief Executive and provided to the elected members at least 3 days before the day on which they meet to consider setting a local adjustment factor. The subsequent publication of any report prepared for this purpose is a matter for the local authority concerned.
Kildare County Council most recently passed a resolution to vary the base rate of LPT in Kildare upwards by 10% for the 2026 and 2027 liability years. This decision will generate an additional €2.9m for the authority’s own discretionary use in 2026. The overall 2026 LPT allocation for Kildare County Council is €32.3m, of which €27.3m is for the authorities own discretionary use with the remaining €5m required to self-fund housing services in the local authority area. It is a matter for Kildare County Council to determine the spending priorities of its ‘own use’ LPT funding in the context of the annual budgetary process having regard to both locally identified needs and available resources.
Detailed information regarding LPT allocations for each year is published by my Department at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/collection/ea27d-local-property-tax-allocations/ .
