Rabbitte defends cut in number to avoid tax

Labour Minister Pat Rabbitte has defended a slashing of the number of residents in ghost estates who are entitled to exemptions of the property tax.

Just 5,100 households in unfinished estates will be entitled to property tax waivers as opposed to the 43,000 properties which were exempt from the household charge last year.

Opposition TDs queried why fewer than one in eight homes previously exempt from the charge were entitled to waivers for the tax.