As members of Laois County Council voted to increase the Local Property Tax (LPT) by 10 per cent, there were heated exchanges in the council chamber.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael members, who have entered into a confidence and supply arrangement which sees them enjoy a majority on the council, voted in favour of the 10 per cent increase.
When Cllr Willie Aird was talking about the work that was being done in the Portlaoise Municipal Electoral area, Cllr Ben Brennan took exception to this, saying people in his area of Graiguecullen-Portarlington were not faring so well, with high-unemployment.
Cllr Aird had praised the two local parks in the town, as well as the leisure centre.
“It is a good time to be a councillor. I remember being at meetings when we had to turn off the public lighting and couldn’t fill a pothole,” he said.
However, Cllr Brennan said he would not be supporting an increase of property tax by 10 per cent.
Forgotten
“You might have employment in Portlaoise, but Graigueullen has been forgotten,” he said.
“I don’t want to be going back to these people telling them that we have increased the property tax,” he said.
“I never said anything about employment,” Cllr Aird replied.
“You said you have everything in Portlaoise,” Cllr Brennan said.
“You are talking about Portlaoise being a great place. Well we haven’t got that in our area. There are an awful lot of industrial units in Graiguecullen which are idle,” he said.
“Now you are going to charge an extra €10 in property tax and people can’t afford it,” he said.
When Cllr Aird said he had recorded what he had said, and there was no mention of employment, Cllr Brennan said the councillor had no right to record him.
