Ms Lorraine O'Donoghue:

There is what we call the payment pending appeal provision in the legislation. There is a statutory obligation on ratepayers who have appealed their valuation to pay some or all of the rate as originally levied. The adherence to that or its enforceability, we do understand that ratepayers who have an appeal pending before the Valuation Tribunal can sometimes be reluctant pending the outcome of the appeal. I presume people do not want to prejudice a potential appeal result if they pay the full amount as levied. It can be a challenge for local authorities to collect rates in that circumstance if there is an appeal pending but it is the statutory position that payment pending appeals should proceed.