Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The national revaluation programme, which amazingly is the first general valuation of all commercial property in the State since the middle of the 19th century, is making progress. It is a very significant undertaking and involves the valuation of some 146,000 properties. Completing the first revaluation and getting every local authority onto what would be a more normal five to ten year cycle of revaluations represents a sea change for the valuation system.

As the Deputy will know, the current position is that all local authorities in Dublin, Waterford and Limerick have been revalued.

These 48,000 properties represent 33% of the total. In addition, 13 public utilities representing the largest ratepayers in the State have also been revalued on a global basis.

Significant progress is being made and the programme has established a momentum that will shortly be built upon when the commissioner makes valuation orders for the revaluation of more local authorities. In parallel, the Valuation Office has continued to carry out revision work and, since 2011, a total of 22,467 revision valuations have also been completed. However, as the Deputy is aware, I am introducing measures in the Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012 to accelerate the revaluation programme. These include provisions for occupier-assisted valuation as well as outsourcing and streamlining the appeals process and wider use of computer-aided techniques.

"Occupier-assisted valuation" is the term being used for the form of self-assessment about which I think the Deputy is talking. It will be introduced as it better reflects what will happen in practice. Valuation of commercial property is often a very complex process, resulting in annual rates bills that can be very significant for an individual ratepayer. This requires the application of a uniform approach and is much more complex than the self-assessment for local property tax, which has been very successful. Occupier-assisted valuation will be a valuable new addition which will help to accelerate the revaluation programme and bring ratepayers into closer contact with a system that is one of the key determinants of their rates liability.

See this speech in context