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

Given the existing Government commitment to the cessation of the non-principal private residence charge in 2014 and the cessation of the household charge in 2013, there is a requirement to repeal and amend the relevant legislation as appropriate.

Amendment No. 86 is a standard provision which defines a small number of terms used in a new Part 12 of the Bill which is in itself provided for in amendments Nos. 87 to 92 inclusive. Amendment No. 87 inserts a new section 70 which provides for the repeal of the Local Government Charges Act 2009 as well as for related compliance measures. The repeals are staggered over time principally to support efforts by the local government system to secure compliance. While I consider the compliance with the charge as being high I am keen to ensure that compliance is maximised, so the repeal of the 2009 Act is staggered over 12 years.

The general approach taken in this section is to provide for repeals in a given date which can then be confirmed or altered by ministerial order. Given the time periods involved of up to 12 years, I believe that the flexibility granted by the making of ministerial orders is necessary.

Moving to the non-principal private residence charge, I am certain that compliance with the charge has been high. To date, almost 359,000 properties have been registered for the charge and more than €394 million has been raised over the last number of years, all of which has been used to fund local authorities in delivering vital services, and this has been a huge achievement. However, I want to maximise compliance and collect outstanding non-principal private residence charge arrears and to help ensure compliance amendment No. 88 provides for a six-month period from March to August 2014 during which new late payment penalties will not be applied to existing liabilities, and this will provide an opportunity for owners to agree terms with the local authorities. As a complementary measure, section 73 will give local authorities explicit latitude to reduce outstanding charge liabilities by writing off parts of such liabilities. At the conclusion of the six-month period, a different situation will prevail. On 1 September 2014 if the non-principal private residence charge remains undischarged or repayment terms have not been agreed, the monthly penalties which would have applied will be reinstated and the entire sum will be multiplied by 1.5 and the entire liability will be frozen for every property. As a complementary measure, amendment No. 90, which inserts a new section 73, gives local authorities powers to reduce outstanding non-principal private residence charge liabilities by writing off part of the liability. The purpose of this section is to provide local authorities with a degree of flexibility when collecting the non-principal private residence charge arrears and under this section local authorities will act as they see fit to collect arrears efficiently. I want local authorities to take a reasonable and equitable approach and I especially want local authorities to deal fairly with those who are unable to pay their arrears. The section explicitly provides for local authority write-downs of late payment fee liabilities when it would be economically most efficient to do so. There is little point in local authorities seeking redress from households which cannot afford to pay their arrears. I will be issuing statutory guidance this year in regard to the application of this section.

Amendment No. 89, which inserts a new section 73, largely replicates the provisions of sections 6(3) to 6(7) of the Local Government Charges 2009 Act, as amended by the Act of 2011. As section 6 of the 2009 is being repealed, effective from 2 March 2014, those provisions of the section which relate to probate or grants of representation must be restated so that they apply from 2 March 2014 onwards.

Amendment No. 91, which inserts a new section 74, provides that the Minister may issue guidance to local authorities concerning any matter to which sections 71 to 73 relate and each local authority shall have regard to any such guidance. It will be necessary to guide local authorities in the application of section 73 and I intend to issue such guidance early this year.

Amendment No. 92, which inserts a new section 75, provides that all activity undertaken by the Local Government Management Agency to collect the non-principal property charge or the household charge or any late payment fees and late payment interest under either of those Acts shall not be impugned on the basis that the agency may have lacked the function to perform that activity. In effect, the amendment retrospectively validates collection-related activity undertaken by the Local Government Management Agency on behalf of the local authority. The section is intended to address a minor technical matter and has been prepared on the basis of legal advice from the Attorney General and as such it is not possible for me to comment any further.

See this speech in context