FF says pledge to replace house tax a mistake

A COMMITMENT to "replace, rather than "abolish", the controversial residential property tax has appeared in three scripts issued in the Fianna Fail leader's name during the past two days. Mr Bertie Ahern was listing his five priorities for the party's election manifesto.

The first script, on Thursday, for the joint business council of IBEC in Dublin, had Mr Ahern stating that he would "replace residential property tax, which effectively hits the greater Dublin area only". The second and third scripts, in Co Cork yesterday, committed him "to replace the residential property tax", with no mention of Dublin because he was speaking in Cobh.

Asked by The Irish Times last night what the tax would be replaced by, a Fianna Fail spokesman said there had been "a terrible mistake".

The paragraph listing the leader's "priorities" in the speeches had been taken from an old computer disk from last year. The policy had been updated since. It was Fianna Fail's policy to abolish property tax.

More significantly, however, the Fianna Fail TD for Dublin South East, Mr Eoin Ryan, had a different disk for his circular to his constituents this week. "On return to Government", he says, "Fianna Fail will abolish the RPT in our first budget".

He is also promising to give a tax amnesty to those Dublin homeowners who have not paid RPT. About one-third of the total 24,800 RPT payers reside in his constituency.

Not alone would Fianna Fail abolish the RPT, but it would "ensure no retrospective liability on home-owners from the date of its abolition".