Ms Jackie Maguire:

The valuation is normally based on the amount of rent that one might expect to pay for a particular type of business, along with the profitability of the company. In Meath, 75% of our rate payers are small to medium businesses. The multinationals pay a high percentage of the actual rate take, but represent a small number of our account holders. There can be a vast difference between what the global companies pay and what small to medium one-off businesses pay.