Results 3,641-3,660 of 45,510 for speaker:Simon Harris

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: I am positively disposed to what the Deputy is trying to do, if it is to ensure that the time period from the moment a case arrives at the door of the Valuation Office until the moment it is out the door is six months. If the purpose of the amendment is to ensure that a revision case should be concluded within six months of receipt, then I agree that this is something that should be provided...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Fleming. This amendment is at odds with the intention of section 15, which provides a discretionary power to the commissioner in exceptional circumstances in the interests of maintaining a correct, equitable and uniform valuation list. The proposed amendment would result in limiting this discretion by limiting the period within which the function could be exercised. This...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for the amendment. At revision, properties are valued by reference to the values of other properties in the same rating authority area. The values are based on the actual physical characteristics of the property at the time of valuation, but reflect the economic conditions at an earlier date. If all valuations in a local authority were decreased between revaluations as a...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: I would not be happy not to have an opportunity to respond because there is quite a lot in that. Deputy Fleming and I possibly disagree on the national versus local approach. I have a different perspective, as does the Local Government Reform Act 2014, in terms of giving more powers for revenue raising to locally elected members of the Deputy's party, my party, every other party and...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: My officials have already been in contact with the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, which is the Department which deals with policy in this area. I do not intend for this valuation Bill to be involving itself in policies outside of its remit. Our remit is to attach a value. I want to attach values which reflect economic circumstances at the end of 2012 to all...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: It has also been stated to my officials. It is not necessarily comparing like with like.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: I will report back to the Deputy on Report Stage, although I am not giving any commitment on the issue.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: I will go through the amendment piece by piece. First, the amendment would duplicate what is already provided for in Schedule 3. Buildings and facilities used in connection with water and wastewater are already included in Schedule 3, specifically in paragraphs 1(a), 1(b) and 1(n). Including buildings and facilities used in connection with water and wastewater in Schedule 3 would be like...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: My apologies.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: No problem.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: This amendment would duplicate what is already provided for in Schedule 3. Buildings and facilities used in connection with water and wastewater are already included in Schedule 3, specifically in paragraphs 1(a), 1(b) and 1(n). Including buildings and facilities used in connection with water and wastewater, as the amendment suggests, in Schedule 3 would be like including an amendment to...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: I know well. Let me show Deputy Fleming the difficulty from a legislative point of view. Would this mean, for example, that part of a hotel or part of a factory premises, or a large multinational with its own facilities, could end up being exempt? I am well aware that is not the Deputy's intention, but merely our interpretation of the potential consequences of the amendment. The impact...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: Yes, but it is the legal position now.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: If we include the water facilities in Schedule 3, as Deputy Sean Fleming's amendment wishes to do, it would make no difference to the ratability of Irish Water, as the exemption from rates for Irish Water is currently provided for in paragraph 21 of Schedule 4 of the Valuation Act 2001, as inserted by section 12 of the Water Services Act 2014.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: It was. I am trying to think when we went through the Seanad.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: The Deputy is correct in stating that this has only been the case since the Water Services Act 2014 was passed.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: That is correct. The reasons for making the exemption are well rehearsed and were fully debated when the Water Services Bill 2014 was making its way through the Oireachtas. For similar reasons, as I have commented on previous issues, it is a policy position that has been taken, and has been passed by both Houses of the Oireachtas under the Water Services Act 2014. Therefore, I do not...

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: I apologise; I do not wish to interrupt Deputy Fleming, but he asked me a question about the €59 million. The €59 million is based on the valuation lists of certain local authorities but is mainly attributed to the four Dublin local authorities and the Waterford local authority.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: It is because that is where the bulk of the infrastructure lies, and because they were revalued.

Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform: Select Sub-Committee on Public Expenditure and Reform: Valuation (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2012: Committee Stage (4 Mar 2015)

Simon Harris: The €59 million is the estimate for all of the water infrastructure that has been valued in the entire country.