Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for bringing the Bill before the House. When we discuss commercial rates and local property tax, it is important that we also discuss where the money is going and how it being spent. People with businesses pay a lot of money on rates in Dublin city, and they often wonder where it goes. One initiative I have tried to pursue for the past number of years is tax transparency at a national level. We have a calculator up and running so that an individual can check how his or her income tax is spent by the Government. It is something we need to compel local authorities to do. If a business could quickly and cheaply get a breakdown online of where its rates are going and how they are spent by the local authority, there might be more buy-in from businesses into what councils are trying to do and the need to pay rates. Many business owners wonder - given the different charges they face, from waste collection to water charges, and the permits for which they pay - where the rates they pay on top of that go. Rates are an importance source of funding for local authorities, but we should tell businesses how it being spent. It is important to have buy-in for the charge.

There are a lot of very positive retails trends in the country. We have heard from Retail Ireland that there is expected growth in consumer spending of 2.7%. Retail sales in the last quarter of 2014 were the best since 2007, and Dublin has been voted the fifth best shopping city in the world by Condé Nast. That is all very positive, and if, as I think we have, we have managed to stabilise the economy, perhaps now is the time to consider how we rate businesses in this country and whether there is a better way. We need to examine whether the idea of a fixed charge that is static regardless of how the economy or business is performing is the best pro-enterprise way of making sure that businesses make a fair contribution to the running of the areas in which they are based. We need to ask if something more dynamic can be done. As Deputy Kyne said, we need to ask if we can introduce flexibility so that businesses that need a rate reduction during a particular time or for a particular reason could benefit, while not giving an unnecessary or unneeded benefit to larger businesses working in the area or industry. The Bill could provide such an opportunity.

We know from the new valuation process for rates how long it takes to design and implement a new system and the unforeseen delays which might be encountered. If a major change is proposed in, for example, ten years' time, now is the time to start discussing and planning for it. A new process was introduced in Dublin and it was difficult. I attended a number of meetings with local businesses and business associations which were worried. They were not getting clear information and were afraid that their bills would increase. We are still managing that process and there is still a lack of certainty for some businesses. Things could have been done better, but we need to learn from the process as it moves around the country.

Some of the exemptions in the Bill are very welcome. Many speakers have mentioned community sports clubs which have a bar, and the exemption from rates for other areas, which is important for clubs. They will be able to put the money they take in into the sporting ground, players, kit or equipment. It is recognised by the Minister of State and the Government that it was unfair for clubs to have to funnel money back into councils.

There is an exemption for non-profit nursing homes, which is welcome. There is no exemption for nursing homes which make a profit or are funded through the Fair Deal scheme. I wonder if we should reconsider that, because we have to do what we can to make health care costs as affordable as possible. We do not want to make it more difficult for people to pay for the health care needs they will have later in life.

A similar approach applies to child care facilities. It is welcome that not-for-profit child care facilities are exempt, but for-profit ones are not. Child care is very expensive and this may be a way to provide some relief for such businesses, which could then be passed on to the parents who send their children to such services. The fact that child care facilities are being charged for outdoor areas is interesting. In Ireland, 25% of children under three years of age are overweight. We do not want to disincentivise new or existing child care facilities from using their outdoor areas because they are worried it will cost them more money. We want the opposite; we want as much play and outdoor activity as possible, because that is best for children. It is something that we may be able to examine at a later stage. I welcome the Bill, which is important.

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