Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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That is agreed. I thank the members.

The fifth petition before the meeting is petition No. 65 of 2022 entitled “To bring the Legion Hall into public ownership and reopen it as a community/peace centre” and has been made by Mr. Aaron Crampton. This petition relates to a request that the now privately owned and derelict Legion Hall in Killester in Dublin 5 be added to the record of protected structures, preserved, protected and potentially purchased by the council and reopened as a community centre. The secretariat wrote to Mr. Owen Keegan, chief executive officer of Dublin City Council, on behalf of the petitioner and he responded on 15 March setting out Dublin City Council’s engagement with the petitioner on these issues to date and the reasons the council did not intend to take on the Legion Hall in Killester. This correspondence was forwarded to the petitioner who replied to the secretariat on 24 March 2023, commenting on those points raised by the council. The committee recommends that the latest correspondence from the petitioner be sent to Mr. Keegan for reply within 14 days and, upon receipt, we will consider whether this petition can be progressed further. Do members have any views or is that recommendation agreed? That is agreed and I thank the members.

I move now move to petition No. 7 of 2023 entitled “Reform of VAT rate for dog grooming services” from Mr. Paul Abbott. This petition relates to a request to re-evaluate and reform the VAT treatment of dog grooming services which currently attract a VAT rate of 23%. The petitioner considers this unfair in comparison with similar services, such as hair salons and veterinary services, which have lower VAT rates. The petitioner already submitted this complaint to the Ombudsman and provided the ruling of the Ombudsman in the documentation he submitted to this committee. In September 2022, the Ombudsman wrote to the petitioner and advised him that, on review of his complaint, the Ombudsman considered that the Revenue Commissioners had carried out their administrative functions correctly, that he cannot pursue the case further with the Revenue Commissioners, and that the Ombudsman has closed its file on the petitioner’s complaint. If that file is closed, this petition very much does not relate to us and I suspect this petition, therefore, is also closed. Is that agreed? That is agreed.