Mr. Thomas Burke:

I will take that one. From a retail perspective, we have significant concerns about the local authority rates system and how it is structured. To be honest and without wishing to sound sensationalist, we believe the current system is fundamentally broken. It requires a very significant overhaul. The system needs to stripped back and we need to look at and build it from the base up again. The current system is not fit for purpose in many ways. When we look at how the system is structured, there is a real concern among Irish retailers that it is totally opaque and there is very little understanding or appreciation of how the system works. A number of our member companies have seen significant increases in their commercial rates bill in a given year - in the region of 200% and 300% in some cases. When they query that and appeal it, a reduction of 50% of the increased amount might come back with no explanation as to why and where the new figure came from or how that number was arrived at. One can understand the concern among our members regarding how the system is structured. We have been engaging with a variety of Deputies on a cross-party basis to look at this issue and we feel there is a real momentum building within the political system such that there is an opportunity to reform the system to make sure it works for retailers, particularly in our instance.

Retailers have no issue with paying their way. We understand that a certain level of rates is required by the various local authorities and should be in place and we are very much willing to pay our way for the local amenities those rates bring. Our concern is that the current system is broken and needs fixing. We produced a paper on this, which I have shared with most people in the room. The paper gives examples of two supermarkets across the road from each other that are of very similar size and scale but have dramatically different rates bills. Again, when we queried that, we could not get any answer as to why this was the case. I should say the Valuation Office has done some really good work on the revaluation programme and has an online portal where people can see what rates bills in different areas are but we think that needs to go further and further work on it is needed.

A significant portion of the rates goes uncollected each year so that is much-needed lost revenue for local authorities. We propose that the Revenue Commissioners be tasked with collecting local authority rates in the future. It would improve the collection rate and efficiency and provide that element of clarity that is required by Irish retailers.

We also have a concern about how the current system links rates to rents. This is a concern when we have seen Irish retailers impacted by upward-only rents in recent years. There might be a perception that the upward-only rent issue has gone away. This is the case post-2013 but as the number of new leases taken out post-2013 is quite small in comparison with the existing stock, it is still having a significant impact upon Irish retailers.

In summation, I agree that significant work needs to be done to make the system work and to make it fit for purpose. As we think there is a will to do that, we look forward to engaging in that process.