Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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434. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government his plans to improve consistency in collection rates for commercial rates revenues across local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19262/17]

Simon 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 pursuant to the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015. The levying and collection of rates are matters for each individual local authority.

Commercial rates form an important element of the funding of all local authorities. However, the legislative basis for the levying of rates is spread over a number of enactments, some dating back to the 19th century. Many of the provisions are outdated and not suitable for business trends in the modern era. I have asked my Department to develop proposals for a consolidated Rates Bill to modernise and consolidate the legislation in this area. In this regard, the Government approved the drafting of a Rates Bill at its meeting on 11 April 2017. These proposals will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny in due course.

The Debt Management Project Implementation Board, on which my Department and the Local Authority Sector were represented, was established by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in February 2015, to progress the recommendations of the Debt Management Review, which was published in 2014. As part of this process, the local authorities undertook a range of work to improve collection levels including;

- Setting targets for reduction of arrears of commercial rates in each local authority;

- Improved reporting of rates debts in local authority financial statements;

- Introduction of strengthened policies relating to debt collection; and

- The development and rollout of a training and education programme.

As part of this process, the local authority sector prepared a business case for stronger enforcement powers in the collection of commercial rates. This business case was endorsed by the Project Board. Provision for strenghtened enforcement powers for local authorities are included in the legislative proposals recently approved by the Government.