Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The rate can be set by the local authority but the system of rates is set nationally so this is the responsibility of the Government. I am asking for a change in the way we administer rates. In Scotland, rates were changed to give preferential rates to smaller businesses. A total of 60% or 70% of small businesses benefitted and got reduced rates as a result and it has helped reinvigorate small towns. This is a fairly standard policy in France, which is why its town and village centres sustain themselves far better than many of our town and village centres. I suggest that as part of this framework for supporting small and medium enterprises in towns, the Minister must think about a new rates system that distinguishes between a bank that might have the same square meterage but has massive profitability and turnover and a small flower shop or shoe shop. The Minister gets my point.

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