Fears that Laois Co Council is missing out on funding due to eircode county boundaries
The head quarters of Laois Co Council at County Hall, Portlaoise
CONCERNS were raised at the recent meeting of Laois Co Council that the Laois is losing out on local property tax funding, due to discrepancies between Eircodes and county boundaries.
The issue was raised at a recent meeting by Cllr Tommy Mulligan, who called on the council to launch an investigation into whether properties geographically located in Laois were being incorrectly registered as belonging to neighbouring counties. In addition, he called on the council to write to the minister of state at the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, Charlie McConalogue, seeking his attention on the matter.
Cllr Mulligan explained that the urgency behind the motion is motivated by the fact that he believed it was essential that the council was not invariably cheated out of funding that could have been used for the betterment of the county. The councillor explained that he was concerned that properties situated near county borders may not have the correct county eircode and postal address and he wondered if local property tax may be flowing into the coffers of neighbouring counties, especially Kildare and Carlow.
The councillor explained: “Do we know, or is there a way of telling, that all houses in Laois, that their local property tax is coming back into Co Laois? And, if not, are there houses identified that are paying into another county? Is every house in Laois registered for Laois property tax or are there houses in Laois where the property tax is going into neighbouring counties?” The councillor explained that he hadn’t found any proof that his concerns were actually being borne out in reality in terms of property tax, but he was aware of a number of cases where eircodes that should have been in Co Laois were actually being allocated to Carlow and Kildare.
The motion was supported by Cllr Caroline Dwane Stanley.
The cathaoirleach agreed that answers would and should be sought on the issue through contacts with Revenue.
