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

-----in actually being out there in the public. The Commissioner has said that the Valuation Office is a creature of the Acts. I am going back to a moral obligation as well. As I have said, it frustrates me that everyone says their limitation is "X" and we go no further. It is a fact that the work of the Valuation Office can have such a massive impact on the viability of a shop, pub or business. Let us remember that these guys depend on people to come in off the street to spend their money and put money in the till in order for the owners to make a living. Every single year I understood that pressure when I tried to strike a budget at county council level. If nobody goes into a premises and there is no money in their till but the rates bill still arrives the business owner must pay the bill. Given that fact, and given the fact that the Commissioner has said that he is very aware, having met people, about the impact of a revaluation, I must repeat my question. Does the Commissioner feel that there is an onus on him to consider the situation? Is there an onus on him to say to Mr. Lemass, the Minister of State, Deputy John Paul Phelan, and the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, that revaluation has a very significant impact on businesses as a result of the work of the Valuation Office?

The work will now speed up as the office is progressing quickly in that regard. Will the question be asked as to whether there are alternative ways of doing business? This might be looking at the turnover of a premises rather than the 19th century model of taking into account the valuation of a business, as has been mentioned. Is that something that could be conveyed to the Department and the Minister? Will the witnesses alert people in the Department and at ministerial level of the hardship felt by people whom they contact? That is the difference between the witnesses and others as they meet the people. Are they conveying that hardship in real terms rather than just statistics to the people that could possibly change the system? The witnesses have said the limitations end at a certain point.