Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

The importance of growth in the economy to complement the success we have made since becoming a programme member is underlined every day. It is important that the Government and the Oireachtas do everything possible to encourage and stimulate that growth. No sector is better poised to assist us in that area than the small and medium enterprise, SME, sector. If all 250,000 of them had the assistance to create one new job each, our dole queues would be halved overnight. It is important we support this sector, and that is why I raise this matter.

I wish to illustrate some of the obstacles created by the current rates system A constituent who has a unit for lease has secured a new tenant. The new tenant has agreed to take on the lease of the unit which has been idle for the past six to nine months. Unfortunately, there is a rates arrears hangover attached to the unit and this transfers automatically to the new tenant, irrespective of the new tenant's history or of the new tenant's future. This anomaly causes serious obstacles to generating growth in our economy by allowing people to take up new leases. Landing a new tenant with a rates bill inherited from a previous tenant is outrageous.

Other constituents who wish to expand their business approached me during the week. They have a fabrics and soft furnishings business. They want to expand and have found an old car showroom which is suitable. They went to the local authority, because the rates on the premises are €1,700 per month, and asked the local authority to do a deal whereby they could pay 50% the first year, 75% the second year and 100% the third year, which seems reasonable in the current times. The local authority replied in writing that it has no discretion in this area. It is full rates or nothing. Unfortunately, the reality for Cork County Council is that, in this case, it will be nothing. The unit will be left empty because of the inflexibility of the rates system.

I lament a major lost opportunity in our recent jobs initiative where we should have grappled with this thorny issue because of the urgency and immediacy afforded to it. As a former county mayor, I am well aware of the importance of rates to every council. I am not criticising local authorities. In Cork County Council, for example, rates were worth €100 million a year. I also appreciate the challenges posed by the difficult and draconian legislation undermining the gathering of rates by each authority.

I earnestly request the Minister to act immediately, notwithstanding the current and planned reviews of rates, and give county and city managers discretion in the application of rates to new businesses willing to occupy vacant premises. This can be done by ministerial directive and does not require the long protracted legislative process, because time is of the essence and jobs are being lost. While headlines will always focus on the very tragic big job losses, the small loss and lost opportunities which make no headlines and appear on no record are just as much of a concern to me as a Member of the Oireachtas. I also ask the Minister to introduce emergency legislation to amend the existing Act that transfers the onus of rates, which are effectively a property tax on a building, from one errant tenant to a new prospective tenant who will create employment, generate revenue for the local economy and the rate collector - the local authority - and to speed up the current review of the rates system with a view to introducing a commercial rate that reflects the reality for SMEs in Ireland today, not the dark ages to which they belong.

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