John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State. To be fair, the response is reasonably positive in that there is some light at the end of tunnel and this issue may be reviewed. To give some anecdotal evidence, in a village that has more vacant than occupied units, and in an economy that is just beginning to turn around, two local men in Finglas recently opened up a Four Start Pizza shop with an attached Subway branch. They have only opened the shop since Christmas but as they had the premises before Christmas, their rates were approximately €9,000 for last year, even though they were not even up and running. They are competing with a large supermarket that sells anything from a light bulb to a banana to a computer and everything in between, and this supermarket has plenty of parking spaces, which, to be fair, it would have paid for through development contributions. These two local people are trying to meet our challenge of creating jobs and being innovative, and have set up a business to do so, but they are in an area of the village that is falling on its knees.

This story is replicated in every county. One can drive through the towns from Dublin to Cork, which I and the Minister of State know well, and see that units are closing down because they just cannot afford rates and other charges. At the same time, just outside the towns we can visit large retail units which are thriving because more people can go there, they have no parking issues and so on.

I welcome the fact the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government has said he will keep an eye on this issue. However, if we are serious about bringing life back into our villages and towns, whether they are urban or rural, we have to look at the amount of rates we charge.

Those who can pay more should pay more and those who cannot pay as much should not pay as much. This is the way to do things under the principle of fairness. If we want to keep our villages alive and bring life to somewhere like Finglas, we must look at the rates we charge. Surely somebody who operates a branch of Four Star Pizza in a village that is on its knees should not have to pay the same rates as a retail outlet outside the town with multiple parking and significant advantages. That is one anecdotal example. I thank the Minister of State for his response. It was reasonably positive and there was some light at the end of the tunnel.

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