Vow to end domestic rates honoured

One of the decisions made by Jack Lynch's government in its first weeks in office was to abolish rates on houses as had been promised in the famous Fianna Fáil give-away manifesto of 1977, which helped the party to its landslide election victory.

At the cabinet meeting on July 22nd, the minister for local government, Sylvester Barrett, was authorised to develop a system of control of local authority expenditure for 1978 in consultation with the other ministers concerned and with county and city managers.

Approval was given in principle for the proposal of the minister to prepare legislation to provide for a reduction of 25 per cent in the rates due for 1977 and for the abolition of domestic rates in 1978.

Rates on secondary schools, community halls and other specified buildings were also abolished for 1978 and for subsequent years.

The minister was also authorised to include in the legislation the power to control the level of local rates that would continue to apply to non-domestic dwellings.

Later in the year the minister was authorised to draft a Bill outlining a general scheme for the abolition of rates, subject to the consent of the minister for finance. The minister was also authorised to notify local authorities and the public at an early date of as many of the provisions of the scheme as appeared to him to be necessary to secure the smooth implementation of the rating reliefs from the beginning of 1978.

The formal decision on rates in the cabinet minutes is one of the few references in the archives for 1977 to the major political event of that year - the general election which brought Jack Lynch to power with a whopping majority of 20 seats for Fianna Fáil.