Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Deputy Barry Cowen's remarks that rates have fallen by 6% somewhere in the country. My experience is very different. Dublin city is undergoing revaluation at present and we were told that material change of circumstances would be taken into consideration. Now, however, the Valuation Office is going on physical appearance only when, surely, turnover should be a factor. There is no consistency in the way revaluation is done on properties and we do not know what the criteria are. Currently rates are calculated by multiplying the rateable valuation, which is based on the 2011 rent, by the multiplier that is set annually by Dublin City Council. We were not even asked what our rent was in 2011.

For the record, I have a café in Dublin 1 and following revaluation, the rates will be going up 37%. I have a wine bar and restaurant in Dublin 1 and the council wants to increase the rates by 25%. I have a wine bar and restaurant in Inchicore and there will be an increase of 42%, and on the North Circular Road, which is not exactly Grafton Street, the council is increasing the rates by 79%. There is no logic to what the council is doing, and there are no transparent criteria or accountability. How can the council work these figures out when it did not contact us beforehand?

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