Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

We said we would leave some aspects for the next Government to deal with. We will support the Minister on this matter.

I have an issue regarding the subsequent occupier clause. If a tenant renting a property does not pay the rates due, there should be a sunset clause beyond which the local authority cannot charge. The Minister should follow up on that. The current position allows local authorities to be inefficient and not collect rates. A person telephoned me yesterday about a previous tenant who had run up a rates bill over an eight year period. That tenant had left the country and when the landlord was resetting the property the new tenant checked with the local authority to see if there were any unpaid rates and discovered the rates had not been paid for the past eight years. The landlord was not aware of this. There was no mechanism in the local authority to consult the landlord. The local authority is a State agency like the Revenue Commissioners. As in the case of a liquidation, one should have a priority in a business that is going bust to collect the first year's rent or second year's rent but if a local authority has not collected its rates after three, four and five years have elapsed, I would ask what the local authority was doing. A local authority should not be able to come back to the landlord eight years later and demand payment. There is a four year clause whereby unless the Revenue Commissioners suspect fraud, they do not deal with periods further back than four years with regard to rebates or tax payments. Local authorities must smarten up in collecting rents due. This is an important point that needs to be made.

We look forward to the Bill on valuations being brought before the House as soon as possible. I ask, however, that it be geared towards supporting businesses and jobs.

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