S.F. WINS CO COUNCIL BATTLE OVER IMPOSITION OF PROPERTY TAX ON TENANTS – BUT MINISTER HOGAN COULD WIN THE WAR!

The Sinn Féin members of Monaghan Co Council succeeded on Monday in having a proposal carried with the effect of preventing the Council from passing on the property tax to tenants of local authority housing.
The Council voted 13-6, after a long and at times heated discussion, to adopt a Notice submitted by the SF councillors under Section 140 of the Local Government Act which issued a requisition to Acting Co Manager David Fallon to “refrain from increasing the rent payable by local authority tenants as a result of the government’s property tax (home tax)”.
A Section 140 Notice, which requires the executive of a local authority to comply with the wishes of the members, has rarely been employed by Monaghan Co Council although it has frequently – and controversially – been utilised by Councils in other parts of the country, usually in relation to planning applications.
However, the Acting Manager pointed out on Monday that the motion passed by the Council would be rendered void if Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan introduced regulations requiring local authorities to pass on the property tax levied on local authority houses to their tenants.
Mr Fallon said he would be compelled by law to implement such regulations regardless of the motion being passed.
The SF councillors argued strongly that imposing a property tax on people who did not own the houses they lived in would be illegal.
The Section 140 Notice was supported by the Fianna Fáil and Independent councillors but opposed by the Fine Gael members, with Colr Owen Bannigan calling on SF on two occasions to withdraw it.
Colr Bannigan argued that the effect of the proposal would be to impose the burden of …