Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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890. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government regarding the non-principal private residency penalties that were increased a number of months ago and the public assurances of leniency the waivers-reductions that have been awarded to homeowners since; the reduction rate; if this varied by county; the number of cases that are still pending a decision on their appeal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49636/14]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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The Local Government (Charges) Act 2009, as amended, provides the legislative basis for the Non-Principal Private Residence Charge. The NPPR Charge, which has since been discontinued, applied in the years 2009 to 2013 to any residential property in which the owner did not reside as their normal place of residence.

Part 12 of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 deals with the collection of undischarged liabilities relating to the NPPR charge. The Act provided for a period, from 2 March 2014 to 31 August 2014, during which time no new late penalties were applied to existing liabilities. If payment was not made in full or if settlement terms were not agreed by the end of that period, an additional late payment fee of €120 per liability date applied on 1 September 2014. In addition, the entire NPPR liability is increased by a factor of 50% and frozen.

Under section 77 of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 , my Department issued guidance to local authorities concerning matters relating to arrears of the NPPR Charge and late payment fees to ensure that a consistent national approach is adopted. The guidelines, which are available at , encourage local authorities to take a proactive approach to ensure that any outstanding NPPR liabilities are discharged in the most equitable, efficient and economically beneficial manner and include sguidance in respect of dealing with hardship cases.

Under the Act, it is a function of a local authority to collect NPPR charges and late payment fees due to it, and all charges and late payment fees imposed and payable to a local authority are under the care and management of the local authority concerned. In this regard, application of the legislation in particular circumstancesis a matter for the relevant local authority. The information requested is, therefore, not available inmy Department.