Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter, which I am taking on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan.

Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by the independent Commissioner of Valuation under the Valuation Act 2001. Any of us who have served on local authorities would acknowledge the point Deputy Lyons has made in this regard. The levying and collection of rates are matters for each individual local authority. The annual rate on valuation, ARV, which is applied to the valuation of each property, determined by the Valuation Office, to obtain the amount payable in rates, is decided by the elected members of each local authority in the annual budget and its determination is a reserved function.

The Government has no plans at this juncture to introduce a temporary levy on large out-of-town retail operations. In terms of planning policy, the Minister, Deputy Hogan, and the Minister of State with responsibility for housing and planning, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, published new development contribution guidelines in January 2012. The new guidelines build on the experience gained in recent years and also align development contribution policy with the Government's prioritisation of employment creation, investment and sustainable development, a point the Deputy addressed in his contribution. Above all, the guidelines are intended to support proper planning and sustainable development while also prioritising job creation and economic investment.

All in this House, across the political spectrum, are aware of the pressures on small and medium enterprises and intergenerational businesses in places like Naas and Finglas, to which the Deputy referred. In that context, local authorities have been asked by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, by way of a circular letter, to exercise restraint or, where possible, reduce commercial rates and local charges for 2013. Local authorities have responded well to such requests in recent years and, in 2013, 87 out of the 88 rating authorities have either reduced their ARV or kept it the same as in 2012.

The Deputy referred to the Government's action programme for effective local government, Putting People First. This indicated that, in the context of reorganisation of local governance structures, the proposed new municipal districts will provide an opportunity to achieve a more coherent approach to rates and charges on a county-wide basis, having regard to funding requirements and the need to support employment and business competitiveness. To be honest, I do not know how that dynamic will work in Finglas and it is probably easier to map that potential in terms of counties such as Cork, where there are distinct municipal areas that do not border on a large metropolitan area. It will be a challenge, and I acknowledge the Deputy's point in this regard. The action programme proposes rates harmonisation to cater for differences between ARVs of towns and counties. The Minister's approach to rates harmonisation will seek to ensure, on the one hand, that harmonisation does not lead to significant net loss of revenue in individual counties, with consequential implications for services, and, on the other hand, that increases in rates do not impact negatively on businesses and employment.

The Minister has informed me that he will continue to keep the approach to rates by local authorities under active review and that he is determined every avenue will be pursued to optimise efficiency and contain costs in the local government sector.

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