Councils and local property tax

Sir, – Cllr Dave Quinn (Letters, October 24th) criticises my observation that the pilot residential support grant scheme in relation to local property tax (LPT) that he proposed at the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council meeting of October 10th had a very low estimated redemption rate of between 7 per cent and 15 per cent.

The aim of this scheme would have been to effectively reimburse practically all of the extra property tax in real terms compared to last year that he wanted the council to apply once qualifying residents based upon income and household value met certain criteria.

It was indicated in the terms of the motion that that the low redemptions rates given were based on evidence from the “supermarket/retail” sector, which I presume to mean the estimated redemption of money-off vouchers. To be clear, as we are in a cost-of-living crisis, the terms of the motion should have been presented to councillors showing figures with a 100 per cent redemption rate, showing the full maximum cost of the scheme, which would have seemed to have been appropriate in a budgetary context when contemplating the introduction of any new grant. If such a support scheme in relation to property tax had been agreed, then it would have been the duty of local politicians to strongly highlight and advertise the availability of such a new way of claiming back money to qualifying residents, substantially elevating the redemption rate beyond the numbers suggested. – Yours, etc,

Cllr JOHN KENNEDY,