Written answers

Tuesday, 24 May 2016

Department of Environment, Community and Local Government

Commercial Rates

Photo of Maurice QuinlivanMaurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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249. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the details of the reduction in revenue from commercial rates for Limerick City and County Council, Waterford City and County Council, Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council as a result of the Valuation Office's global revaluation, if the commercial rates charged by each local authority in 2015 were to remain the same in 2017, and no other source of revenue was found to substitute the lost revenue, in tabular form. [11723/16]

Photo of Simon CoveneySimon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by the independent Commissioner of Valuation under the Valuation Act 2001. The Commissioner for Valuation has sole responsibility for all valuation matters except appeals of valuation procedures set out under the Valuation Act 2001, as amended, which comes under the remit of an independent Valuation Tribunal. The Valuation Act 2001 comes under the aegis of my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality.

Under Part 5 of the Valuation Act 2001, as amended, the Commissioner of Valuation is conducting a revaluation of all commercial and industrial properties throughout the State and re valuations have been completed in South Dublin County Council, Fingal County Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, Dublin City Council, Waterford City and County Council and Limerick City and County Council.

The essential purpose of a revaluation is to redistribute the burden of rates more equitably, in line with relative changes in valuations across different classes of properties, or individual properties within particular classes or uses. It is not the purpose of a revaluation to increase or decrease the total amount of commercial rates collected by local authorities. Revaluation results in more consistent and up-to-date valuations for rating purposes and provides a more equitable distribution of valuations across those liable to pay rates.

Section 8 of the Local Government (Business Improvement Districts) Act 2006 provides that I, as Minister, can make an order directing a rating authority to limit the overall amount of income it could raise through rates in the year following a revaluation to the total amount of rates liable to be paid to it in the previous year, adjusted for inflation. Rate limitation orders have been made in each of the local authorities that have undergone a revaluation to date. However, the levying and collection of rates are matters for each individual local authority. Accordingly, the information requested in the question is not available in my Department.

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