Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)

I support the proposal in the motion that commercial rates should factor in the profitability of firms, particularly small and medium-sized firms, as opposed to the current ridiculous system where rateable valuations derive from what a premises would fetch if it was rented. That is ludicrous. It is difficult to rent properties at the moment but rates have no link with the activities on a premises. One wonders why Fianna Fáil did not reform the system in the 14 years it was in power, particularly considering that the final three years of its rule coincided with many serious problems for small businesses and so on.

The motion refers to the revaluation exercise being carried out by the Valuation Office, which is a joke. It began almost a decade ago following the passage of the Valuation Act in 2001. At the time, at the insistence of the Government, a costly Deloitte & Touche report was done, which grossly underestimated the resources that would be required for the Valuation Office to undertake this massive exercise. We have to learn lessons from this. The staff who worked on this pointed this out but they were not properly consulted by senior management or by the consultants. They correctly anticipated and resisted the efforts to foist such a massive workload on their shoulders and they were involved in industrial action for seven months in 2002 over this issue, which resulted in the provision of some additional staff. The technical and administrative staff were correct about the debacle that was unfolding but they were not listened to.

The revaluation exercise is a joke and it should be abandoned. I come from a local authority area in which the new system is in place and it has caused chaos. There is pressure on small businesses but the key lesson to be learned is that those at the coal face know best. The Government's amendment, which I strenuously oppose, refers to outsourcing the work of the Valuation Office. This would be a disaster. We should listen to the people who know best and who told the then Government ten years ago of the problems we are now living with and for which businesses are paying the price. The current Government should not make the same mistake twice.

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