Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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1833. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the commercial rates charge as levied on commercial businesses and companies for each county council or local authority district as of 1 January 2018, in tabular form; his plans for reviewing the current commercial rates system in view of the fact the present system is archaic and unfair; the possible timeframe for reform of the rates system; his plans to implement the necessary changes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2030/18]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, 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. 

The annual rate on valuation (ARV), which is applied to the valuation of each property determined by the Valuation Office, to obtain the amount payable in rates, is decided by the elected members of each local authority in the annual budget and its determination is a reserved function.

My Department is collating the ARVs adopted by local authorities for 2018; however, the full list is not available at this time as the formal publication process for all adopted 2018 local authority budgets has not yet been completed.  A full list will be provided to the Deputy as soon as it is available.

Commercial rates form an important element of the funding of all local authorities. However, the legislative basis for the levying of rates consists of over 20 separate pieces of legislation, some dating back to the 19th century. My Department has developed legislative proposals to modernise and consolidate the legislation governing commercial rates into a single enactment.  

In this regard, the Government last year approved the drafting of a Rates Bill.  The General Scheme of the Bill is currently with the Attorney General’s office for drafting, with a view to its introduction as soon as possible.