The government has been urged to abolish the local property tax.

Sinn Féin Deputy Leader Mary Lou McDonald said the penny has finally dropped with the Finance Minister that having set rates when property prices were low, the property tax will be even more punitive in nature now that house prices have risen significantly.

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She said: "We have the ludicrous scenario of a Government desperately trying to wangle itself out of its own policy objectives. Sinn Féin advised the Fine Gael led Government in 2013 of the property tax design flaws, and all that we warned against has come to pass.

"The local property tax is punitive, and the proposed review framework is a belated public acknowledgment by Government of this fact. Home owners in Dublin and across the country steeped in mortgage debt they cannot afford and negative equity simply cannot take a hike on what is in effect is a tax on their debt."

(CD/MH)