Written answers

Tuesday, 4 July 2017

Department of Justice and Equality

Valuation Office

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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300. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the allocated budget for the Valuation Office’s pilot scheme under which an external partner is contracted to carry out the revaluations of Carlow and Kilkenny local authority areas. [31532/17]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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301. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the allocated budget for the Valuation Office’s occupier-assisted valuation approach pilot scheme for revaluing businesses in the Laois local authority area. [31533/17]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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302. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to evaluate the performance of the revaluation pilots conducted by the external partner and by occupier-assisted valuation; the timeframe for same; and if other local authority areas have already been identified for either of these approaches including those subject to a second revaluation. [31534/17]

Photo of Joan BurtonJoan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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303. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality his plans for subsequent revaluations after the conclusion of Reval 2017; the annual schedule; the local authority areas yet to undergo revaluation; and the areas due for a revaluation for a second time covering each of the years 2018 to 2021, respectively, in tabular form. [31535/17]

Photo of Charles FlanaganCharles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 300 to 303, inclusive, together.

The Commissioner of Valuation has responsibility under the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015 to maintain a valuation list for each Local Authority, of all commercial properties in that Local Authority area, which is used to calculate the rates due from individual ratepayers. The Commissioner is independent in the performance of his functions and the statute does not accord me, as Minister for Justice and Equality, any role in this regard. Revaluation is a process where all rateable properties in a Local Authority area are valued periodically by reference to a single valuation date. Following the first revaluation, subsequent revaluations of each rating authority area are then carried out on a cyclical basis no sooner than five years and no later than ten years after the first revaluation (Section 25 of the Valuation Act 2001).

The revaluation provisions in the Valuation Acts 2001 - 2015 provide for the revaluation of all rateable property within a rating authority area so as to reflect changes in value due to economic factors, differential movements in property values or other external factors such as changes in the business environment or infrastructural changes in the vicinity of a property. The Valuation Office is currently engaged in a national revaluation programme, the immediate objective of which is to ensure that the first revaluation of all rating authority areas in over 150 years is conducted across the country, as soon as possible, and on a phased basis. Revaluation is an important instrument in redressing historical anomalies in relation to commercial rates. The general outcome of revaluations finalised to date by the Valuation Office has been that about 60% of ratepayers have had their liability for rates reducedfollowing a revaluation and about 40% had an increase, a pattern which is most welcome and is expected to be replicated elsewhere as the programme advances.

The national revaluation programme currently underway is the first general revaluation of all commercial property in the State since the middle of the 19th century, involving the valuation of some 150,000 commercial rateable properties. Completing the first revaluation and getting properties in every local authority area onto the 5-10 year cycle of revaluations provided for in the legislation represents a sea-change for the rateable valuation system. All rateable properties in the Dublin, Waterford and Limerick local authority areas are now re-valued. In addition, 13 public utilities representing some of the largest ratepayers in the State have been revalued on a global basis. This represents approximately 57% of the national rateable valuation base in monetary value terms or 33% in numerical terms. Significant progress is being made and the programme has established a momentum which is now being built upon as the current phase of work known as “REVAL 2017” is nearing a conclusion and which covers the following nine counties - Longford, Leitrim, Roscommon, Westmeath, Kildare, Offaly, Sligo, Carlow and Kilkenny. A second revaluation of the commercial properties in the South Dublin county council area is also underway.

The Valuation (Amendment) Act 2015 which came into effect on 8 June 2015 has as its primary purpose, the acceleration of the national revaluation programme and it contains a number of measures in this regard. The Act provided for the Commissioner to conduct a revaluation with the assistance of the occupiers of property using elements of self-assessment. This provision – known as “Occupier Assisted Valuation” - is one of the express provisions intended to assist the acceleration of the national revaluation programme. I understand that the Commissioner intends running a pilot project involving the revaluation of the approximately 2,280 commercial properties in County Laois rating authority area using ”Occupier Assisted Valuation”. The Valuation Office has conducted the necessary statutory consultations with the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and with Laois County Council and is now embarking on development of appropriate technical and statutory systems of valuation to underpin the pilot project and allow for its initiation later this year. Draft regulations are currently under preparation which when finalised will give effect to these new procedures set out in the 2015 Act.

The Occupier Assisted participative approach also involves the development and implementation of extensive information and communications technology facilities. The provision of a wide range of on-line supports will be essential to the success of the pilot project, including use of video and audio technology to assist ratepayers in carrying out their elements of the process. There will be extensive engagement with the ratepayers through an information campaign which will be undertaken to ensure maximum participation during the pilot. Accordingly, at this stage the Commissioner cannot be precise about the date on which he will sign the statutory Valuation Order to formally commence the revaluation in County Laois. However, I am informed that he expects to do so later this year. Following the signing of the order, the Valuation Office intends to undertake a publicity and information campaign during which each individual ratepayer will be written to informing them of the commencement of the project and requesting information in relation to their property. There will also be a programme of engagement with the various trade bodies and representative associations with the purpose of keeping them abreast of developments. Regarding the allocated budget for the County Laois pilot, the costs for development work on information and communication technology and on-line supports and ancillary work are estimated to be in the region of €60,000.

Similarly, the Valuation (Amendment) Act 2015 included an amendment which enables the Valuation Office to enter into contractual arrangements with external parties to outsource work in order to augment the in-house capacity of the Office. This is another of the provisions intended to assist the acceleration of the national revaluation programme. During the early months of 2016, the Office conducted an extensive procurement exercise, conducted in accordance with EU Public Procurement requirements, which resulted in an award of contract to CBRE, Connaught House, Burlington Road, Dublin 4to carry out the revaluation of the Carlow County Council and Kilkenny County Council rating authority areas on its behalf. This contractual work is still underway in these two counties and the new valuations will be published in September 2018. It is anticipated that appeals from these valuations will continue into 2018. The total value of the contract awarded for this pilot project, as advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union is €1.945 Million (excl. VAT).

Regarding plans to evaluate the performance of the revaluation pilots conducted by the external partner in Carlow/Kilkenny and by the occupier assisted valuation method in Laois, the position is that because of the independence of the Commissioner under the valuation legislation, I, as Minister, have no direct role in reviewing the work done as part of the revaluation programme, whether by direct assessment, external partners or by using the occupier-assisted method of valuation. I am informed by the Commissioner that such performance evaluations are undertaken as a matter of course following the completion of a revaluation project and evaluations of this nature will be conducted by the Commissioner and his senior officers following the conclusion of the pilots in Laois and in Carlow/Kilkenny. It is intended that a review of the Carlow-Kilkenny pilot project will be conducted during the first quarter of 2018, in accordance with the Valuation Office’s published Strategic Plan. The timeframe for an evaluation of the County Laois pilot has not been determined as the project is currently at the advanced planning stage with the substantive work due to commence later this year following the signing of the valuation order which will signal the formal commencement of the project. I have been informed that there are no plans at present to extend the pilot projects to other revaluations, pending the reviews outlined above.

Following the conclusion of the current phase of revaluation programme, i.e. REVAL 2017, attention will turn to the next two phases of the programme. I understand that the Commissioner intends to include seven rating authority areas in the next phase – known as REVAL 2019 - which will formally commence later in 2017 and will culminate in 2019 with the publication of a new valuation list for these areas. The next and final phase of the programme - REVAL 2021 - will include 8 rating authority areas and will conclude in 2021 with the publication of new valuation lists for these areas. The local authorities to undergo revaluation in each of these two phases are indicated in the following table:

REVAL 2019

Rating Authority
REVAL 2021

Rating Authority
Cavan County

Louth County

Meath County

Monaghan County

Tipperary County

Wexford County

Wicklow County
Cork City

Cork County

Clare County

Donegal County

Galway City

Galway County

Kerry County

Mayo County

Subsequent revaluations of each rating authority area following the first revaluation are carried out on a cyclical basis no sooner than five years and no later than ten years after the first revaluation (Section 25 of the Valuation Act 2001). The position in relation to second revaluations is contained in the following table.

Local Authorities to undergo a 2nd revaluation in the period 2018 to 2021
Rating Authority1st Revaluation

Completion Date
2nd Revaluation

Completion Date
Fingal County Council31 December 200931 December 2019
Dun Laoghaire- Rathdown 31 December 201031 December 2020

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