Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 92: To ask the Minister for Finance the steps he will take to instruct local authorities not to impose rates on child care facilities which are being provided by private operators; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8410/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I have no plans to provide for special treatment of crèches under the Valuation Act. The Valuation Act 2001 maintained the long standing position that commercial facilities — including child care facilities such as playschools, pre-schools, crèches and Montessori schools — are liable for rates. Exceptions to this key principle would quickly be followed by demands for similar treatment from the providers of other useful services and products, which would be difficult in equity to resist. The process could thus substantially reduce local authority revenues, which would have to be made good by imposing corresponding increases on the remaining ratepayers.

The rateable valuation of commercial property is based on the net annual value, NAV, that is, the rental value of the property. Any ratepayer dissatisfied with the rateability of a property, the valuation assessed on a particular property or the method of calculation can appeal to the commissioner of valuation in the first instance and subsequently to the independent valuation tribunal. There is a further right of appeal to the High Court and ultimately to the Supreme Court on a point of law.

Rating legislation, as distinct from valuation legislation, and issues arising from it are matters for my colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

The core objective of Government policy in the area of child support is to provide assistance which will offer real choice to parents and which will benefit all children. In that context, our policy has been to increase child benefit by substantial amounts as the main fiscal instrument through which support will be provided to parents with dependent children. Child benefit provides assistance to all parents in whatever caring choices are most appropriate for them and their children. In addition, unlike tax relief, it provides support to parents irrespective of their income status. We have also undertaken measures to favour the supply of child care places by tax incentives to set up facilities, relief from VAT and relief from benefit in kind, BIK, for free or subsidised child care places provided by employers. Taken together these represent substantial measures to assist with the cost of child care.

My colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, has overall responsibility for the formulation of national policy on child care. In that context, the establishment of the €499 million Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006, EOCP, with funding provided by the European Union and the Exchequer under the NDP, aims to increase the supply of centre based child care places by 55%, or about 31,200, by programme end.