Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I reject any implication that this did not receive a political input or that the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and others were not involved. A memo was brought to Government on these changes in July 2014. The amendments I am bringing forward in the House have the approval of Cabinet collectively. I am eager to stress that the fact we continue to engage, as the Senator asked me to here during our previous debate, with industry bodies such as the Irish Hotels Federation, is not a sign of weakness within the legislation. Rather, we are ensuring that having waited so long for this and nothing having happened in regard to reforming valuation over a long period of years, we are getting the best possible legislation. We will get to the issues raised by the Irish Hotels Federation and others later.

The reality is that under the legislation the occupier will have multiple ways of ensuring that he or she can contest a valuation with which he or she is not happy and to provide information and work with the Valuation Office to arrive at a valuation that is fair and correct. That is what we all want. We want to get to a situation whereby valuations are equitable and fair. I believe that occupier-assisted valuation is the best method of doing this. It allows the Valuation Office to work with the occupier and for the occupier to provide information to arrive at a valuation that is equitable and fair. Therefore, I stand over the proposal in these amendments.