Niall Collins (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate. Many of us in this House have served in local government from time to time and we realise the importance local government plays in everybody's lives. It is important that we have a debate on these charges, and a wider debate on the funding of local government would be welcome also.

Our local authorities have core functions to do with planning, roads, sewerage infrastructure, environment, community and enterprise. Throughout those core functions they have many revenue raising streams which the public have to contribute to on an almost daily basis but the most controversial one which causes people concern is commercial rates. Any of us who have been involved in a budget estimates process in a local authority will be aware that the rate struck by a local authority is the balancing figure. We have come to a position here where the small and medium businesses, and the larger businesses, are being levied with onerous commercial rates by local authorities. We must undertake a fundamental review of that because we have a serious competitiveness issue in addition to increasing joblessness and businesses closing down. The local authorities pursue the collection of outstanding rates, which they are mandated to do through legislation, in an aggressive fashion.

The chairman of the Revenue Commissioners recently outlined a policy, which is welcome, in which they are open to negotiation in terms of tax collection from companies and businesses that owe taxes. They are open to collecting payments over a scheduled period. On the question of commercial rates, business people tell us there is an issue that we must address it at some point.

On planning, local authorities have gathered a great deal of money through the local authority development funds. Recently, those funds were practically frozen. The balance on those development funds is taken into the overall Government cash balance calculation at the end of the year. That is regrettable. Certainly, in my constituency basic community facilities such as playgrounds which were approved for areas such as Bruff and Kilfinnan, are now held up. In my local authority, for example, there is approximately €25 million sitting in the bank that cannot be spent. That is why we need a full debate on this issue.

The lack of sewerage infrastructure is holding up development across my constituency. We allowed a ridiculous situation arise in recent years where consultants' documents, engineers' documents and so on flowed between local authorities and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The process would go from one stage to the next stage, come back for another report and 12 years later there is still no sewerage scheme in place. I have one such situation in my home village of Patrickswell. Development is held up. Planning permission is conditional on sewerage upgrades and it is stymying everything. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government must seriously examine that issue.

The €200 charge is a mechanism for raising revenue. I appreciate that we must raise taxes to run the country and provide the services but on the €200 charge a number of issues have been brought to my attention, particularly in terms of my constituency. We are unique in Rathkeale in that we have a large Traveller community which is not comparable to Traveller communities in other areas of the country. They are business people, effectively, but they live in large demountable houses or mobile homes on their own properties beside a house, which they own. The house is boarded up and used to store the tools of their trade, including furniture and whatever they need to lay tarmacadam on roads. It begs the question whether the €200 will be levied on the storage, which is a dwelling, or on the mobile home or the demountable.

A situation arises also where people, because of their social circumstances, are living in a house but they have a mobile home or a demountable, which is not mobile, on the property or premises which is used by other members of the family because the house, for whatever reason, has not been extended or does not have enough room. We must clarify the position on that.

There has been a great deal of debate about the an bord snip nua report and the review of all the State agencies. We need to examine all our local authorities. A debate is ongoing in Limerick as to whether we should have a boundary extension from the Limerick City Council administrative area into the county. We have all those issues; we have duplication; we have local authority managers and directors of services. All of that has grown out of Better Local Government. All of that must go under the microscope.

On the €200 charge, there are some items I would like to see clarified but I appreciate we have to raise taxes to provide the public services.

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