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23 Oct 2025

Louth property tax unchanged but commercial rates face increase

Louth councillors vote to leave LPT rate unchanged for the year

Louth property tax unchanged but commercial rates face increase

Louth councillors voted on Tuesday night against a 15% increase in the Local Property Tax

Louth commercial rates could see a hike this year after Louth Councillors voted against a 15% in the Local Property Tax (LPT) rate at a special meeting in the County Hall on Tuesday evening.

At the start of the meeting, Temporary Chief Executive Officer, Mr Joe McGuinness, advised the councillors that the LPT should not be considered in isolation, but is part of the full budget conversation and that their decision would have an impact on the executive in preparing a balanced budget for next year. He also advised them that if they voted against an increase to the LPT, then if additional funding was to be sourced for items including, road safety measures and public lighting, then the only option would be an increase to commercial rates.

When a vote was taken, four councillors: Labour's Cllr Pio Smith and Cllr Michelle Hall, the Green Party's Cllr Marianne Butler and Fianna Fáil's Cllr John Sheridan voted for a 15% increase, with 22 voting against it, and three councillors, Cllr Emma Coffey, Cllr Ejiro O'Hare Stratton and Cllr Jim Tenanty being absent.

At the start of the meeting, going though some of the details in a report presented to the councilors, on LPT in Louth, the council's budget strategy, and the impact an increase in the LPT would have on what the local authority could achieve over the next five years, Mr McGuinness told the members that Louth County Council is one of the lowest rating authorities in the country, in relation to the LPT, and that of the more than 51,000 properties in Louth liable for LPT, 72% of them are in the lowest two brackets.

Highlighting some of the challenges the local authority is facing, Mr McGuinness listed off a number of areas, including a 24% increase in electricity costs; a 2% increase in payroll costs; a "significant challenge" in relation to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) agreement on retained firefighters and the extra costs it would bring; loan repayments; and in particular major capital projects and regeneration projects which, while there is government funding, Louth County Council must provide match funding for the projects.

The Temporary CEO pointed in particular to the additionality that Louth County Council could provide should it get an increase in the LPT rate, for items that it cannot currently provide and that if it got a 15% increase for five years, it could create a fund to deliver these projects. He listed specific items including an extra €500,000 in 2025 for road safety measures; an extra €100,000 funding for public lighting; and the resources to recruit an additional 10 outdoor staff members, who could focus on cleaning, public realm repair, and to cover jobs not currently being done.

Independent Cllr Maeve Yore was the first councillor to speak on the matter, saying that she attended the budget workshop and two whips Meetings where Local Property Tax was discussed, but added that she feels central government should be funding local government properly and proposed that there be no change to the LPT. 

Cathaoirleach, Independent Cllr Kevin Callan seconded the proposal saying that has a similar view, adding that they were elected to provide local services, not to additionally tax people.

Cllr Pio Smith proposed that the rate be increased by 15%, highlighting figures from the Acting CEO's report that indicated it would mean an extra €3.1 million over five years for Dundalk; an extra €2.9 million for Drogheda; and an extra €1.9 million for Ardee. He added that he would love to see the extra funding from central government but that has not happened.

Cllr Marianne Butler seconded Cllr Smith's proposal, pointing to issues like street lighting that it could help fund. Cllr Butler added that she does not want to raise the tax but she did not know what else they could do. She also asked if the consequences of not increasing the LPT rate would mean that commercial rate payers would face an increase in their rates.

Cllr Michelle Hall supported the proposal saying that she could not accept the line that the extra funding should be coming from central government and that it was a cowardly route to take.

Cllr John Sheridan said that politics requires courage, and that all 29 councillors had the courage to go out and ask people to vote for them. He warned against councillors being afraid of a decision on the LPT due to comments they might see on the social media pages of local media, adding that if they could show delivery over time and persisted with it, people would appreciate it.

Cllr Sheridan also pointed to the fact that councillors "agonised" over the LPT rate each year, and that each year they find a reason not to increase it, and that this year he thinks the reason is that there is an election in six weeks time. He said that there was no "agonising" over the increase in development levies or the harmonisation of rates, and to think twice about the small employers and businesses, who will now face increased commercial rates as a result of not increasing the LPT.

He said that they are the businesses who employ people locally, that sponsor the fundraising events, but now they are asking them to pay for what they are not asking other ordinary residents to pay. After Cllr Sheridan spoke, the Temporary CEO confirmed that if the councillors decided not to increase the LPT rate then to find additional funding, the only option would be to increase commercial rates.

Other councillors spoke against increasing the LPT rate, including Fianna Fáil's Cllr James Byrne, and Fine Gael's Cllr Paula Butterly and Cllr Anne-Marie Forde, before Cllr Smith's proposal for a 15% increase was defeated in a vote by the members present.

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