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

I do Chairman. The Local Government (Rates) Bill 2018 was before the select committee yesterday. The Minister brought forward a series of amendments. The Chairman has touched on the Valuation Office. We have had the Valuation Office in before this committee. Some of the particular points we raised covered the tardiness in fulfilling that process and the impact this has on businesses. I put this point to senior officials yesterday. The assistant secretary pointed out that in the last number of years we have gone from a situation where there were perhaps a couple of hundred cases on appeal with the Valuation Office to a situation where there are now more than 1,000 businesses appealing valuations. I have asked officials what is the cumulative figure. I do not know if the Comptroller and Auditor General knows the figure - or if it is the Tax Appeals Commission - on what is the cumulative figure, with regard to net worth, for more than 1,000 businesses that have appeals currently with the Valuation Office. Obviously there is a serious issue with the Valuation Office in conducting the business in the first place and now the fact that there are more than 1,000 cases on appeal.

Fianna Fáil brought forward proposals at the select committee providing for an inability to pay clause for the Bill, which will be on Report and Final Stages next Wednesday, 3 July. This is in the context of the revaluation process whereby - due to the Valuation Office's tardiness - a business might get hit with a significant increase in one fell swoop. A person could be hit with that cost in the following year. Fianna Fáil's proposal sought to stagger that cost over a course of payments. Both of those amendments were rejected on Committee Stage yesterday and I want this on the record. IBEC has put forward its position paper on the rates to this committee this morning. We are in a situation - as the committee has dealt with previously - where €1.5 billion was raised off commercial rates. This has increased by 14% over the past decade and is the main contributor to the funding of local government, yet the Local Government (Rates) Bill 2018, which will go on to Report Stage next Wednesday will not deal with the significant issues of businesses facing an inability to pay outside of the greater Dublin area. This is a serious issue. Perhaps the Comptroller and Auditor General has this figure. I have asked the senior officials in the Department about this also. The Valuation Office has in excess of 1,000 appeals on its books. The Valuation Office could not give me a timeline for how quickly the cases would be taken off the books or for how long on average the businesses are waiting for a valuation on appeal to be dealt with. This is a serious issue also for this committee because the Valuation Office was before the committee for a whole day. It did not deal with the valuations, and as a result of yesterday's meeting we can see that it is not dealing with the appeals in a timely fashion either.