Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Notwithstanding the Minister of State's comments, the amendment is eminently sensible. There are pros and cons to an abatement decision.

One of the pros is the benefit to the local businesses or the ratepayers but one of the negatives is the potential loss of revenue to the local authority and the resultant impact. Having a consultation process would allow some of those issues to be teased out. When I was on South Dublin County Council we found a way to have an abatement, effectively, even though that was not what it was called. We operated a kind of survey for small and medium-sized businesses and that worked well. We found, however, that the level of take-up from small and medium-sized businesses was low. It was difficult for us to get the injection of cash back out to those small and medium-sized enterprises. If we had public consultation that might have increased the take-up in the first and second years. It was not a great deal of money for some businesses but it was certainly better than nothing. I am, therefore, minded to support this amendment or one from officials that might be better drafted. The principle is a good one.