Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 26 October 2023
Public Accounts Committee
Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage
2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 3: Central Government Funding of Local Authorities
Chapter 4: Accountability of the Central Funding of Local Authorities.
9:30 am
Ms Fiona Quinn:
It is constant and they manage their debts on an ongoing basis. There will be right-offs of small amounts in most years if necessary. As I have said, we are seeing a significant improvement in the collection of commercial rates. We expect to reach 90% for the first time ever. There is a real improvement in collection rates across the board. From a local authority perspective, even that 90% does not include the cases where they have payment plans in place with businesses. Obviously, they have supported both their tenants, people that have loans from them and businesses right throughout Covid in terms of trying to balance that and put payment plans in place where necessary to support them. Certainly, we are seeing a recovery, and the collection figures are all going in the right direction. It is a piece of work that is under way constantly.