Dublin city only benefits by an extra €4 million a year from the Local Property Tax according to a council report.

The city council's head of finance, Kathy Quinn, stated in a report to the Finance Committee that €4mis the net gain, despite the total value being just under €80m for 2018.

A total of €16m is redistributed to other county councils as part of the equalisation fund, while Dublin city councillors voted to impose the maximum reduction of 15% resulting in another loss of €12m.

Ms Quinn states that the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government then assigns the remaining funding but in effect this replaces services areas such as Housing Adaption Grants which used to be paid for by central Government.

She says the result is an "annual value of €4m".

Cllr Paddy McCartan of Fine Gael said this point "should be hammered home".

Ms Quinn confirmed that some councils like Longford applied a reduction to their property taxpayers while receiving money from the equalisation fund.

The meeting also heard that 80% of the equalisation fund went to three counties - Donegal, Mayo and Tipperary.

However IBEC's representative on the committee, Aidan Sweeney, pointed out that property taxpayers in Dublin contribute 33% of the total tax while making up 28% of the population and he said the diffference was "not that bad" .

However, he pointed out that 24.4% of the country's businesses are in Dublin paying 44% of the national commercial rates bill.

Earlier Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe said he would like to see the LPT remain in place.

A review of the tax will get under way next month and Mr Donohoe said any future changes will be "moderate, affordable and certain".

At the moment, it is calculated on 2013 market values, but property prices have increased substantially since then, particularly in Dublin.

There are concerns that the liability could greatly increase in some parts of the country after planned revaluations next year.

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Donohoe said there would be no change in bills next year and any changes that might occur would begin in 2020.

He said he wanted the tax to be fair and for people to see that it would lead to an improvement of local services and amenities.

The minister also said he does not expect the rate of increase in corporation tax revenue in recent years to continue.

As a result, he said, the entire tax base had to be broadened.

Mr Donohoe said his expectation was that, in future, corporation tax revenue will grow at the same rate as the economy.

He also said the tendering process for a firm to run the Apple escrow account and implement the investment strategy are in the final stages of completion.

Mr Donohoe expects firms to be appointed in the first quarter of this year with money expected to flow into the account in the second quarter of the year.

He said Ireland was not losing any money in relation to the issue.

Ireland has been ordered by the European Union to collect an estimated €13 billion in back taxes from the iPhone maker.