Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 212: To ask the Minister for Finance the fees or charges set by him by way of ministerial order for the provision of goods or services to persons or businesses; the charge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8031/10]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 213: To ask the Minister for Finance the charges levied by his Department or agencies under his Department in respect of the provision of goods or services to persons or businesses; the charge; the anticipated income from such charges in 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8043/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 212 and 213 together.

The information requested by the Deputy is as follows. Under the Freedom of Information Act 1997(Fees) Regulations 2003 (S.I. No 264 of 2003), the following up-front fees were introduced for certain Freedom of Information requests, applications for internal review and applications for review by the Office of the Information Commissioner. The fees payable are as follows: €15 for an FOI request (reduced to €10 for medical card holders and their dependants); €75 for a request for internal review of an FOI decision (reduced to €25 for medical card holders and their dependants); €150 for an application for review of an FOI decision by the Office of the Information Commissioner (reduced to €50 for medical card holders and their dependants); €50 for an application, by the third party to whom the records relate, for a review by the Office of the Information Commissioner of an FOI decision to grant public interest access to records, following section 29 consultation procedures. This fee structure applies across all public bodies covered by the FOI legislation.

In relation to my own Department, based on 2009 receipts, it is estimated that approximately €6,300 will be collected in fees in 2010.

My Department is also involved in the Pension Insolvency Scheme (PIPS) which is a three-year pilot scheme offering , as a special measure, payments in cases where a defined benefit pension scheme is winding up in deficit and the sponsoring employer becomes insolvent. As the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2009 requires the scheme to be operated on a cost neutral for the Exchequer, under S.I. 04/2010 Pensions Insolvency Payments Scheme 2010 participating pension schemes are charged the sum of €950 per year to cover the Minister's fixed costs. The expected revenue for 2010 is not available as it will depend on the number of pensions schemes who opt to join the scheme.

I have been advised as follows by agencies associated with my Department.

Office of the Appeals Commissioners

I have been advised that Section 941 (1) and (3) of the Consolidation Act 1997 sets out the conditions on which fees are charged for the service provided. Section 941(1) states that "Immediately after the determination of an appeal by the Appeal Commissioners, the appellant or the inspector or such other officer as the Revenue Commissioners shall authorise in that behalf (in this section referred to as other officer)", if dissatisfied with the determination as being erroneous in point of law, may declare his or her dissatisfaction to the Appeal Commissioners who heard the appeal.''Section (3) states "The party requiring the case shall pay to the Clerk to the Appeal Commissioners a fee of £20 (€25) for and in respect of the case before that party is entitled to have the case stated.''The Appeals Commissioners receives no more than ten applications for Case Stated to the High Court a year, costing €25.00 per application.

Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information

I have been informed by the Office of the Commissioner for Environmental Information which was established under the European Communities (Access to Information on Environment) Regulations 2007(S.I. No. 133 of 2007) that up-front application fees for appeals to the Commissioners came into effect with the establishment of the office. The fees payable are €150 for an appeal (reduced to €50 for medical card holders and their dependants and also for people, not party to the original request for access to environmental information, who are appealing a decision to release information which they believe will affect them). The Commission for Environmental Information anticipates receiving €5,000 in fees for 2010.

Valuation Office

I have been informed by the Valuation Office of the following fees levied by way of Ministerial order S.I. No.64/2002 Valuation (Revisions and New Valuations)(Fees) Regulations 2002. The fee set per Valuation is €250.

S.I. No. 312/2002 Valuation Tribunal (Fees) Regulations 2002 and S.I. No. 63/2002 Valuation Appeal (Fees) Regulations 2002 set out fees dealing with appeals as follows:

Valuation not exceeding €50 €95

Valuation exceeding €50 and not exceeding €150 €125

Valuation exceeding €150 and not exceeding €650 €300

Valuation exceeding €650 €500

S.I. No. 54/2007 Valuation Act 2001(Revaluation Appeals)(Fees) Regulations 2007 sets the following fees:

Valuation not exceeding €20,000 €60

Valuation exceeding €20,000 and not exceeding €50,000 €125

Valuation exceeding €50,000 and not exceeding €250,000 €250

Valuation exceeding €250,000 €375

S.I. No. 18/2008 Valuation Tribunal (Revaluation Appeals)(Fees) Regulations 2008.

Valuation not exceeding €20,000 €95

Valuation exceeding €20,000 but not exceeding €50,000 €125

Valuation exceeding €50,000 but not exceeding €250,000 €300

Valuation exceeding €250,000 €500

In addition to the fees levied under Ministerial Order the Valuation Office have informed me that they charge the following fees for Public Office Services.

Current Certificates - €12.70

Historic Certificates: The cost varies according to a scale as follows:

Previous year - €63.49;

Previous year back to 1950 - €101.58;

Previous year back to 1900 - €190.46;

Any year before 1900 - €253.95;

Provisional Certificates -€126.97

The Valuation Office anticipate that the total income from the charges levied in 2010 will amount to €1,543,000. They anticipate that this amount will be made up of the following receipts:

Valuation Tribunal Appeal Fees €40,000

Valuation Certificates €150,000

Valuation Revision Fees €1,233,000

Appeals to the Commissioner of Valuation €120,000

Office of the Revenue Commissioners

I have been informed by the Office of the Revenue Commissioners that they levy the following charges on persons or businesses in relation to services provided by that Office. These charges are as follows:

Charges to traders for the attendance of Revenue Estimated Income for 2010

staff outside normal hours,(an hourly rate of €26 applies) € 200,000

Charges for the reservation of a specified vehicle registration € 50,000

number, (a charge of €1,000 applies for each number)

Annual charge for collecting light dues on behalf of € 38,000

the Commissioners of Irish Lights

Office of Public Works I have been informed by the Office of Public Works that they charge an agency fee of 2.5% on certain deductions made from payroll on behalf of companies. These are mainly where deductions are made from payroll on behalf of outside companies e.g. life assurance companies. Charges receivable are estimated at €2,000 in 2010 based on the fees received in 2009.

National Treasury Management Agency The National Treasury Management Agency under the Asset Securities Act 2001 expect to receive some €718,000 in Asset Covered Security fees in 2010.

They have no information as yet on how much they expect to receive in respect of the Eligible Liabilities Guarantee Scheme fees in 2010.