Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour)

I welcome the Government amendment to the Private Members' motion. On a number of occasions over the past six months I have raised the issue of the Valuation Office with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. The slow progress being made in revaluing commercial property is a concern for rate payers throughout the country, including in my home county of Meath. I have received many phone calls and e-mails from local businesses seeking flexibility when it comes to payment of rates. They wanted to see a revaluation of the rating system

. The Valuation Office has not taken on the task with the sense of urgency necessary. Since it started the revaluation process in 2005 it has examined only Dublin businesses. The revaluation of the South Dublin County Council area was completed in December 2007, the Fingal County Council area in 2009, and the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council area last year. Work on the Dublin City Council area has begun but it is not expected to be completed until 2013 at the earliest. We can all agree this simply is not quick enough.

I have raised this issue directly with the Valuation Office and it stated it does not have the staff to carry out the work any faster. It also told me businesses in Meath would not be revalued until after 2014 at the earliest. Businesses in Dublin are getting an advantage while the rest of the country has to wait. This is not fair and it is not a balanced approach to economic development.

This is an important issue for many counties outside of Dublin, including Meath. More than 90% of businesses in Meath are small and medium enterprises employing fewer than nine people. More than half of Meath employees are employed by small businesses. Therefore, rates have a huge impact on the ability of these businesses to do business and grow.

In 2010, commercial rates for County Meath accounted for 29% of total annual local authority income. Commercial rates depend on the annual rate on valuation multiplier. While this is decreasing throughout the country, in Meath it has increased year on year since 2008. Therefore, we are keen to see a revaluation and review of the situation.

If staffing is an issue I urge the Minister to consider the possibility of redeploying staff from other Departments in the public sector to the Valuation Office. The speeding up of this process will benefit SMEs throughout the country. This will have knock-on effects as not only will it be easier for them to do business but we can also expect to see more jobs created. It would be a move in the right direction.

It is about time that Fianna Fáil woke up and saw that the issue of local authority funding is a cause for concern. It is a pity it took the party too long -until after it left government - to see the problem. It seems it is waking up only now to the damage it did to this country.

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