> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.dublininquirer.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Fingal County Councillors hold local property tax at same rate as last year - URL: https://www.dublininquirer.com/fingal-county-councillors-hold-local-property-tax-at-same-rate-as-last-year/ - Published: 2026-10-13T23:59:07.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-13T23:59:15.000Z - Description: Chief Executive AnnMarie Farrelly had suggested nudging it up a bit. - Author: Michael Lanigan - Tags: Fingal, local property tax Fingal County Councillors have voted to keep the Local Property Tax at the same rate as it was last year. The tax will stay at 5 percent below the baseline for 2027, they agreed, at their full monthly meeting on Monday evening. Every year, councillors must vote to vary the basic rate of the tax on the market value of houses and apartments. At most, they can drop it by 15 percent or raise it by up to 25 percent, Oliver Hunt, Fingal’s director of finance told the council on Monday. Previously, in July 2025, councillors agreed to increase the tax slightly, setting it at minus 5 percent for 2026, after it had sat at 7.5 percent below the baseline in the three prior years. The council’s Corporate Policy Group – the mayor and the councillors who chair seven strategic policy committees – recommended keeping the tax at the same rate of minus 5 percent, Mayor Tony Murphy, an independent, said at the full council meeting that evening. Each 1 percent increase in the rate is estimated to yield about €497,000 in extra discretionary revenue, Fingal’s chief executive, AnnMarie Farrelly, [wrote in her report to the council](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28807666-local-property-tax/?mode=document&ref=dublininquirer.com#document/p12). Farrelly, in her own report, asked the chamber to up the tax to minus 2.5 percent for 2027. Changing from 5 percent to 2.5 percent below the baseline would bring in an additional €1.243 million for next year, Hunt said at the meeting. **Conversely,** members of Sinn Féin unsuccessfully attempted to pass a motion calling for the rate to be lowered to minus 15 percent. Ultimately, the council approved the Corporate Policy Group's recommendation by a vote. ## **Breakdown** Overall, the Local Property Tax yield would be €49.7 million if councillors left it at the base rate, Hunt said at the meeting on Monday. For comparison, the council estimates that it will spend about €463.3 million next year. So, the LPT sum would be equivalent to about 1o percent of its total revenue budget. But the council wouldn't even really get to just keep and use that €49.7 million raised via the LPT as it wishes. The increase to the council's budget would actually be much less than that. Central government sets a baseline allocation for each local authority. Anything that it brings in over that is "surplus". It can keep some of that surplus to spend as it wishes. But "The remainder of the surplus, if any, will then be available to the local authority to fund services in the housing area thereby replacing Central Government funding for some of these services," according to a [circular](https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/28807666/local-property-tax.pdf?ref=dublininquirer.com) from the Department of Housing. At the variation of minus 5 percent, there'll be €22.3 million of LPT left over, which will partially fund the council’s revenue budget, Hunt said. In terms of how the tax will impact individuals, a person in the most common valuation band of between €315,001 and €420,000 would pay €333 a year if councillors left the LPT at the base rate. Since councillors varied it down by 5 percent, that person would now pay €316, [the council’s LPT report says](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28807666-local-property-tax/?ref=dublininquirer.com#document/p7). ## **An unpopular alternative** Once Hunt had wrapped up his presentation, Fingal’s four Sinn Féin councillors – Angela Donnelly, Malachy Quinn, Breda Hanaphy and John Smyth – proposed varying the tax downward by 15 per cent, the maximum amount possible. Households are struggling to cope with the cost of living, Donnelly said. “We’re no longer even talking about a choice between heating or eating. Thousands of people can’t afford either.” Fingal County Council is a rich council, she said. They have just received €20 million from the Towns and Cities Regeneration Investment Fund, she said. “We increased development levies late last year, which is estimated to yield €312 million between 2026 and 2030\. Where has the extra income gone?” They increased rent for social housing tenants, she said. “Now we are coming for those residents that own their own home again, many of whom are paying large mortgages.” The Sinn Féin motion to vary the tax by minus 15 percent was defeated by a vote with eight councillors supporting the recommendation, while 27 opposed it. [To vary the Local Property Tax down 15% from the base rateFailed: 8 for, 27 against, 0 abstentions![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)CouncilVoteTracker.ie![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9f/78/9f782dda-9dc9-44d1-b817-fe80588bdc76/content/images/thumbnail/og-image-7d1806e9-7f49-4826-b2bc-90054fde3a74.png)](https://councilvotetracker.ie/fingal/motions/c980587b?ref=dublininquirer.com) The chamber subsequently put the Corporate Policy Group’s original recommendation of minus five percent to a vote. Twenty-nine councillors voted in agreement, and nine voted against it. [To vary the Local Property Tax down 5% from the base ratePassed: 29 for, 9 against, 0 abstentions![](https://static.ghost.org/v5.0.0/images/link-icon.svg)CouncilVoteTracker.ie![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9f/78/9f782dda-9dc9-44d1-b817-fe80588bdc76/content/images/thumbnail/og-image-c24d1c9d-04c2-4421-bb5b-ceb27efc432d.png)](https://councilvotetracker.ie/fingal/motions/24c2dde1?ref=dublininquirer.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/9f/78/9f782dda-9dc9-44d1-b817-fe80588bdc76/content/images/2026/10/Oliver-Hunt-presents-LPT-at-council-meeting-source-Fingal-County-Council.jpg)