John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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495. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if his attention has been drawn to the concerns expressed by quarry owners regrading the current review of commercial rates and valuations and the adverse effect this will have on the cost of doing business and the construction industry; if the methodology being used to calculate the valuations will be reassessed in view of complaints received; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45907/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015 provide for the valuation of all commercial and industrial property for rating purposes. The Commissioner of Valuation is independent in the performance of his functions under the Acts and the making of valuations for rating is his sole responsibility. I, as Minister for Justice and Equality, have no role in decisions made in this regard. As the Deputy will be aware, under Irish law there is a distinct separation of function between the valuation of rateable property and the setting and collection of commercial rates. The amount of rates payable in any calendar year is a product of the valuation set by the Commissioner of Valuation, multiplied by the Annual Rate on Valuation (ARV) decided annually by the elected members of each local authority.

As the Deputy will appreciate, having a modern valuation base is very important for the levying of commercial rates on a fair and equitable basis across all economic sectors. This has been the policy of successive governments for many years and is the express purpose of the National Revaluation Programme now being rolled out by the Valuation Office. To this end, the Valuation Acts provide for the revaluation of all rateable property within a rating authority area so as to reflect relative changes and differential movements in property values arising from evolving economic factors and changes in the local business environment over time. The Valuation Office is currently carrying out an extensive series of revaluations, 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. This is a welcome and positive development which is long overdue and on which considerable progress has been made to date. Revaluation is an important instrument in addressing historical anomalies in relation to commercial rates for both urban and rural properties and between particular classes of property within a local authority area.

In September, as part of the phase of the programme known as "REVAL 2017",final Valuation Certificates were sent to all ratepayers in the rating authority areas of Carlow, Kildare, Kilkenny, Leitrim, Longford, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo, South Dublin, and Westmeath County Councils. The valuations will be used to calculate the rates charged in 2018 and subsequent years. Work has recently commenced on the revaluation of all rateable properties in the rating authority areas of Cavan, Fingal, Louth, Meath, Monaghan, Tipperary, Wexford and Wicklow County Councils.

Where the Valuation Office proposes to enter a new valuation or amend an existing valuation on a Valuation List, there is an extensive process available to cater for ratepayers who may be dissatisfied with the proposed valuation they receive from the Valuation Office. A dissatisfied person can, in the first instance, make representations to the Valuation Office within 40 days of the date of the issue of the proposed valuation certificate. The Valuation Office considers any such representations and, based on the evidence and material provided by the ratepayer or his or her agent, may or may not change the proposed valuation depending on the circumstances of each individual property. If any ratepayer is still dissatisfied with the final valuation to be placed on their property following consideration of the representations, they have a right to lodge a formal appeal with the Valuation Tribunal within 28 days of the publication of a new valuation list in the case of a revaluation and within 28 days of the of the final valuation in the case of a revision. The Tribunal is an independent statutory body established for the purpose of hearing appeals against decisions of the Commissioner of Valuation.

With regard to the Deputy’s particular enquiry in relation to quarries, I am informed that the revaluation of such properties are conducted according to the same basis of valuation as all other classes of rateable property, as prescribed by part 11 of the Valuation Act 2001, as amended. This requires the Valuation Office to determine the Net Annual Value of the property, as defined in section 48, and by reference to a particular valuation date. I am informed by the Commissioner of Valuation that, in accordance with well established international valuation principles and best professional practice, and in keeping with the case law of the Valuation Tribunal and the jurisprudence of the Higher Courts, various methodologies may be used in estimating the net annual value of a property or class of properties for the purposes of section 48. I am also informed that the valuations placed on all quarries as part of REVAL 2017 programme, as outlined above, have been arrived at using established valuation practice that was deployed previously in the revaluation of quarries in Waterford, Limerick and Dublin and which is in accordance with the findings of the Supreme Court in the recent case of Kilsaran Concrete –v- Commissioner of Valuation [2016] IESC 61. Accordingly, there are no plans at present to reassess the methodology used to determine the rateable valuation of quarries under the National Revaluation Programme.