Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The last point the Minister of State made is the reason I am opposed to this legislation in its entirety. My remark about Sir Humphrey was not directed at any particular officials, in case somebody thought I had a person or group of people in mind. The Minister of State said the butcher, the baker or the candlestick maker might have to pay more because the total amount of rates is fixed in a local authority area. We have had this on Committee and Second Stage. There are counties in Ireland where business activity has gone up and the rates bill for the county is fixed when a revaluation is done. Some of those businesses are paying less in rates than they would if they were in a neighbouring county where business has not improved to the same extent. The local authority rateable area is outmoded. It goes back to a previous century, and this is one of the reasons I suggested the Government should scrap this entire process and go for self-assessment. The reasons the Minister of State has quoted constitute one of the principal reasons I am against this legislation. We have discussed the early child care and education scheme at length. I do not know whether the Minister has an opportunity to reply on this-----

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