Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on Valuation Bill 2014 and I commend Deputy Cowen on bringing it forward. As previous speakers indicated, the Bill is designed to amend the Valuation Act 2001 in order that only the licensed premises portion of sporting clubs' properties will be valued for rates purposes.

The work done by sports clubs throughout the country is well documented, as is their importance and value to local communities. The operation of a bar on the premises of a sports club is not always with the purpose of generating profit for profits sake. Rather, it is to generate funds in order to allow such clubs to continue their work in respect of under-age teams and to buy sports equipment and to ease the burden on local communities with regard to maintaining such clubs. This is an important aspect which must be recognised.

It is interesting that so many barriers are being placed in front of this Bill, which is seeking to achieve something quite simple. Reference was made to technical difficulties and unintended consequences. I wonder whether there is a real will to deal with this issue and amend the Valuation Act in order to allow the Bill to achieve its purpose. While the Government has indicated it is accepting the Bill, I am obliged to ask how long it will be before it proceeds to Committee Stage and whether the Department will actually facilitate the latter taking place in order that the issues we are highlighting might be teased out and possibly addressed. It will be interesting to see how long we will be obliged to wait for Committee Stage and how the Government will deal with the issues that have been identified and offer solutions in respect of them.

I wish to comment on the Valuation Act in general terms.

While there may be many difficulties as has been outlined by the Minister as to how licensed premises are valued in clubhouses, local authorities should be given a greater role in how valuations are administered. This could be teased out for sporting clubs, as a way of recognising the contribution they make to their counties. Local authorities could be provided with a legal mechanism whereby they would not have to collect the full valuation rates from the clubs. This might be a way of overcoming the technical issues as outlined earlier by the Minister of State. He stated the exemption system which operates in the Six Counties would not be welcomed here but my suggestion could provide a way to overcome these technical and legal difficulties for the Valuation Office.

Once a building is valued, the local authority is legally obliged to collect the amount of the valuation. There is no legal mechanism to allow it to waive any portion of it. Even if a business is in difficulty and cannot afford to pay the full amount, it still accrues as a debt against the business. On a wider basis, local authorities should be able to stimulate business activity in their areas by being allowed to reduce the amounts they can collect while the valuations would not change for businesses that are having difficulties. It would also enable local authorities to improve their enticements in getting new businesses to open up in their areas.

I support this Bill. I hope it does not languish on Committee Stage, however, and runs out of time as the Government’s tenure comes to an end. The technical difficulties can be dealt with and teased out on Committee Stage if there is a will within the Department to make that happen.

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