In Ireland, the presence of weak local government is reflected by the attention given to the potential impact of upcoming elections on major future battles, rather than focusing on the local authorities’ own predicaments over the next half-decade. Councillors do possess some authority in terms of adjusting the local property tax (LPT) rate, a power they can use to increase or decrease the tax by up to 15 per cent. Despite a cursory review revealing that the services provided by Dublin City Council (DCC) are severely underfunded, over the course of a decade since the LPT came into being, councillors have consistently opted for the highest reduction.
Post the elections on the 7th of June, there was a possibility that DCC would fall under the control of a politically progressive coalition helmed by the Social Democrats and Sinn Féin. This prospect collapsed when the Green Party and Labour pulled out due to Sinn Féin’s resistance to an increase in LPT. Instead, an agreement was made with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil to raise the LPT in 2026.
The LPT is far from an ideal tax revenue generator, and it can be persuasively argued that a site value tax, combined with increased budgetary control for local authorities, may be a better solution. However, some form of property tax is integral to any balanced, fair, and widely applicable tax system, a reality appreciated in the majority of European nations where property tax is typically higher than in Ireland. It is a curious aspect of sections of Ireland’s left-wing politics that criticism of the LPT continues, causing division among the centre-left parties – Labour, the Greens and the Social Democrats – and Sinn Féin along with People Before Profit.
Though political discussions on a local level tend to be more practical and less ideologically driven than during government formation, the situation in Dublin could provide insights into the potential role of these three parties in the forthcoming Dáil. Roderic O’Gorman, a Green Party leadership hopeful, has voiced his desire for a post-election gathering of parties ‘ready to shoulder the responsibilities of government’ to determine if they can reach a consensus on certain principles.
A couple of years back, when Sinn Féin was prominently featured in the poll results, some analysts suggested the likelihood of its leadership in a left-wing alliance. Today, such a premise seems less probable, as does any chance of a pre-electoral pact amongst any of the centre-left political groups. Nonetheless, what is evident is that these three parties adopt comparable viewpoints on diverse matters which might be effectively converted into policies by the succeeding government. This aim is more probable if they exhibit a consistent, unified stance.