Ms Josephine Feehily:

On the first question about the €200 household charge, it is a source of some disappointment to me. I still think people should pay it to the Local Government Management Agency, because it is considerably cheaper, at €144, if they pay before 1 July. It is better if they do that because it will be €200 when it comes to us in July. That is my advertisement. It is really important. I take the Deputy's point. If people have paid the local property tax but not the household charge and they have a mind to be compliant, they should be compliant at the cheaper rate in their own interest. If they leave it over, we will give them the same phased payment arrangements. If they wish to have it deducted from their salaries and so on, that is fine; we will do that.

With regard to people who want to withdraw a deferral, they can do it through the helpline. We hope that people who want to change their minds may wait until we get past the peak of today and tomorrow. I was going to say they could write in but Mr. Gladney says they will be able to do it on the telephone. If they phone the helpline we can lift their deferral applications. Self-assessment means that their deferral is accepted at face value. They have chosen a deferral option. We will check a handful of them, as we always do, proportionally on a risk basis in due course. The deferral option is available, and if they want to lift it that is fine. When we get past the peak we will probably provide options for people to make some changes to their filing online on a self-assessment basis.

That is for the autumn, though, because we have to get past this peak yet.

The valuation question is trickier because in the legislation the valuation date is 1 May. Therefore, we have been operating on the basis that the property market, generally speaking, will either stabilise or go slightly up. Keeping the valuation at 1 May for three and a half years was seen as somewhat beneficial. The 1 May date was fixed and the idea of varying the valuation within the three and a half year period was simply not in the legislation, unless someone made a major mistake. Certainly, there are opportunities to correct errors. If a person discovers she has made a major error in a panic, running in to us yesterday, there is room for discussion, but the valuation date is May 2013, not May 2014, 2015 or 2016. Therefore, if something happens it is not provided for in the legislation for a valuation to go downwards.