Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister of State. Second Stage of the Valuation (Amendment) Bill took place in the Seanad on 11 October last year, with the common opinion of the Members of the Upper House being that there is an urgent need to speed up valuations and revaluations as a matter of priority. There are a few initiatives that the Minister of State will doubtlessly outline as being within the Bill, with one being a pilot in a local authority in Galway to consider a self-assessment scheme. That should be welcomed. There is also a pilot scheme for considering different ways of facilitating an independent assessment system or an external service delivery scheme. That would be welcome and I hope the Minister of State can expand on the concept.

Having spoken to owners of businesses in my constituency, it seems there are a number of urgent issues, with survival being paramount in 2013. The Minister of State would be well aware in his constituency that the common narrative among business people is if they will survive in 2013. We must be conscious of that worry and look to deal with it. With the valuation system, business owners are indicating it could take two to three years to get a valuation officer out to revalue a property, and there is a desire to speed up the process. Some businesses may be paying very high rates and may have downscaled, with a decrease in revenue and profit margins. We must be careful in assisting businesses when many are still struggling. I spoke to a constituent at the weekend who is in business along with a couple of his sons. He observed that the businesses which are doing well are working flat out but on the other side of things, the businesses trying to survive are slowly losing that battle. We must use every available resource to make the process easier.

We must look to speed up resource deployment with this Bill. It has gone through Second Stage in the Seanad and the Minister might enlighten us today about the timeframe for getting through the legislative process. There should be a sense of urgency.

From speaking to open-minded people in business, there is a realisation that competition is good and business is dependent on other businesses doing well in an area. Some but not all business people have mentioned a rates holiday for 12 months that could apply to new businesses. The idea was raised in the recent past and we must use every possible incentive to attract people to setting up a business. Not every business will survive, and the rate of survival is probably falling, but we should use whatever tools are available to consider the idea of a rates holiday.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will have two minutes to respond to the Minister of State's reply.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy McHugh for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister who is unavoidably absent. I ask Deputies to excuse any errors I may make in reading out replies as I am using a pair of borrowed reading glasses, having lost my own glasses this afternoon.

The programme of revaluing all commercial and industrial properties in the State for rateable valuation purposes is the responsibility of the Valuation Office, which is headed by the Commissioner of Valuation. The commissioner is independent in the exercise of his statutory functions, which are principally derived from the Valuation Act 2001.

The national revaluation programme was provided for in the 2001 Act and the expectation was that the complete revaluation of all commercial property in the State would take ten years to complete. This assumption has proven over time to be overly optimistic. To date, the revaluation programme has been completed in the South Dublin County Council area in 2007 and in Fingal and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown county councils in 2009 and 2010, respectively. The revaluation of Dublin City Council area began in May 2011 and will be completed with the publication of a new valuation list in December 2013, which will become effective for rating purposes from January 2014.

I assure the Deputy that the Government is aware of the importance of accelerating the national revaluation programme and this is a feature of its Action Plan for Jobs 2012 strategy. Such a comprehensive revaluation of property has not been undertaken since the middle of the 19th century.

The revaluation programme is required to take account of the differential movements in property values that have occurred over a prolonged period of time and therefore maintain uniformity in the valuation base. Such uniformity is essential to achieve the policy objective of ratepayers paying commercial rates on an equitable basis. This, in turn, supports a more competitive business environment and improved compliance.

With the express objective of accelerating the revaluation programme, the Government published the Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012 on 3 August 2012 as part of its legislative programme. The Bill proposes a number of specific measures in this regard. It provides a statutory basis to enable the Valuation Office to establish pilot schemes for outsourcing some of the revaluation work and exploring the possibility of introducing an element of self-assessment by ratepayers to the valuation process.

Additional provisions in the Bill seek to streamline the current valuation process and each of these will help to speed up progress. The Bill proceeded through Second Stage in the Seanad in October 2012. Officials in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and Valuation Office are engaged with a wide range of stakeholders and other interested parties on potential amendments that may be introduced on Committee Stage.

The Valuation Office is continuing to extend the revaluation programme. The Commissioner of Valuation signed valuation orders for the three Waterford rating authority areas on 12 December 2011 and Limerick County Council and Limerick City Council on 29 March 2012. The Waterford and Limerick revaluations will be completed in 2013 and 2014, respectively. At that stage, approximately 33% of all rateable properties in the country, representing more than 50% of the national valuation base in monetary terms, will have been revalued. The commissioner has also indicated his intention, subject to a statutory consultation process which is now under way, to sign valuation orders for Galway City Council and Carlow and Kilkenny rating authority areas during 2013.

Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply, although I note it did not refer to his county, Louth, or my county, Donegal. I hope he will use his powers of persuasion and position to try to ensure greater haste in bringing counties not yet included in the revaluation programme up to speed. While I accept that 50% of the national valuation base has been revalued, businesses in my constituency are struggling and must be given hope that a valuation order will be signed for County Donegal as a matter of priority.

The current valuation system is shrouded in secrecy. Businesses in small towns do not share information and there are curious differences in the valuation methods employed. Greater transparency is, therefore, required. One way of facilitating more transparency is to encourage businesses in small towns to come together. Buncrana and Letterkenny in my constituency have successful chambers of commerce, whereas smaller towns such as Ramelton, Milford and Carndonagh do not have a chamber of commerce. We must encourage smaller towns to establish chambers of commerce which could then act as a lobby group on issues of importance such as the revaluation programme. I call on businesses in smaller towns to come together and share information. I am not naive and accept, therefore, that some businesses are worried that the revaluation process will result in an increase in their rates.

Businesses in smaller towns and their environs must engage in more effective lobbying. At a time when democracy is breaking down to some extent and the old party structures no longer work as effectively as in the past, we need more formal mechanisms and new conduits for allowing businesses to share and impart information.

Businesses in the Border region, including counties Louth and Donegal, face specific competition issues, yet none of the Border counties is listed for revaluation. I ask the Minister of State and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to ensure Border counties are considered for participation in the next phase of the revaluation programme.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy McHugh for his proposals, which I will bring to the attention of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. He is correct that we need a strategy for the Border counties as they face different threats from counties such as Cork and Kerry. For example, different tax rates apply across the Border and various other competitive issues arise in the region.

While valuations are important, it should be noted that local authorities strike the rate. With the introduction of household property taxes, local authorities will have an opportunity, from 2015 onwards, to vary their rates by 15% per annum. This will result in a much greater focus on valuations and local tax levels and create pressure to drive down rates and increase efficiencies in local government. These will be positive developments. I will bring the points the Deputy raises to the attention of the Minister.