Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the commercial rates issue, a man came to my office on Monday who is not much older than me and who operates a new business. In one hand he had a bill for €5,000 for his business rates, which he received in January, while in the other hand he had a court order for an appearance in approximately three weeks. It was served on him by the county council because of his rates arrears. It is an archaic system. This man operates a business that helps children with autism and youth federations. It is a good business but he is getting screwed because of the physical size of the premises from which he operates. We have people operating information technology businesses from their attic who make big money but this archaic system is penalising people like this.

In 2017, the commercial rates system will bring in €1.5 billion to local government, which is 34% of the budget and a 10% increase in the value collected since 2010. In my time on the council, we got to a system where if there was a shortfall, the council increased rates. Councils get into the mindset of seeing expenditure as X with income as Y, leading to a shortfall, so they put up the rates. It is an archaic system that is screwing small businesses in this country. Valuation is being discussed currently and I saw on the front of the Westmeath Examinersome weeks ago that 40% of businesses were seeing a rates hike as a result of valuation. Will the witness address that for me? How will this be dealt with in a substantial way by the Department? This simply cannot continue as there is pressure and expectation being put on businesses in this country to fund local government.