Arthur Spring (Kerry North-West Limerick, Labour)
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570. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will review the non-principal private residence charge and the circumstances within which children are permitted to reside in a dwelling within two kilometres of their parents' home; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5537/15]

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 (NPPR) 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. The NPPR Charge is based on self-declaration and therefore the onus is on the property owner themselves to register their property and make the payment. The 2009 Act places the Charge under the care and management of the local authorities and application in particular circumstances is a matter for the relevant local authority; Part 12 of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 deals with the collection of undischarged liabilities relating to the NPPR Charge.

A number of exemptions from the charge are set out in section 4 of the 2009 Act and section 4(6) provides for an exemption from the charge in a situation where a residential property is occupied rent-free as the sole or main residence of a relative of the owner and the sole or main residence of the owner is either on the same property or within two kilometres of it.

I have no plans to revise the legislation.