Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is a refund scheme and in theory the letter of the law means that one must apply a refund to something that has already been paid. In practice, there will be engagement with local authority officials where there is no difficulty in entering into arrangements with the landlord in question in the event of difficulties with cashflow or where he or she may not have the money, depending on circumstances. We can specify a pragmatic approach in the guidelines we will lay down in order to address a situation where one will not have a cheque coming in one door and another going out the other on the same day. In practice, local authorities will have discretion to enter into arrangements. A refund could range from nil to 100%. It is up to the elected members to decide on a local electoral area basis or a combination of local electoral areas. I have ensured as much discretion as possible under the scheme and it is entirely up to elected members to decide on a reserved function basis.

That summarises the position. A number of other matters were raised by the Deputy in terms of varying the rate and targeting responses. All of these issues will be matters for discussion in the debate on the valuation Bill.

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