Serious concerns have been raised after a number of households have been told they will have to pay local property tax, despite having been in receipt of the exemption up until 2016.

Sinn Féin TD for Dublin Fingal, Louise O'Reilly, said several households had contacted her in Dublin over correspondence from Revenue looking for the retrospective payment of the property tax.

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She said: "These are households who submitted all the necessary documents to Revenue at the time, who were aware of the time sensitive nature of the exemption and who were willing to pay once it ran out. Now they are being hit with a bill and being told it must be paid.

"We have a situation where revenue, in a number of cases, is now looking for back payment, despite these households having sent in the information previously.

"They are making these families, who had suffered extreme problems because of the presence of pyrite in their homes, feel like tax cheats despite having complied with Revenue at the time. This is unacceptable.

"The Minister must now intervene with Revenue to clarify the situation surrounding these households."

(CD/JP)