Mr. John O'Sullivan:

I do not know what the situation is with payment because we do not have any role in the collection of rates. To clarify, it is an area where there is quite a lot of confusion from time to time. Under the Valuation Act, for a charity to claim the exemption under the Act, it has to satisfy two criteria; one is that it is a charity and it satisfies that by being registered on the charities register and, second, the particular property on which the exemption is being claimed would have to be used exclusively for charitable purposes. We take the view, which is backed up by the tribunal and otherwise by the courts, that a retail activity carried out by a charity is regarded as retail as distinct from a charitable purpose even though all of the funds may be put to a charitable purpose.