Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That report was received by the Department on 9 June and is under consideration. I will be relaying Deputy Moynihan's message to the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. As I stated, the report has also been shared with other Departments.

I refer to the unprecedented support for local authorities during the Covid-19 pandemic. One of the earliest priorities of the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, was to secure funding to provide a waiver of commercial rates for businesses impacted by the pandemic, while supporting local authorities. In 2020, Cork County Council applied a 100% commercial rates waiver to just over 9,000 businesses and recouped €34.7 million from this Department.

In recognition of Covid-19-related income losses and additional Covid-19-related expenditure incurred in 2020, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage provided funding of €6.7 million to Cork County Council. Given the ongoing impacts of Covid-19, the Government's support for local authorities continues. The Government has introduced a commercial rates waiver for 2021, which has been extended to the end of September, at an estimated cost of €480 million. This waiver applies to businesses most seriously affected by ongoing restrictions.

As with all public health measures and associated supports, the waiver of commercial rates will be kept under review, as has been the case since the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Department will continue to engage with the local government sector and individual local authorities on the financial impacts of the pandemic and provide them with the necessary financial supports.

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