Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
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1354. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reductions available to businesses that pay commercial rates and are owner-occupiers; the options available to persons (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12781/19]

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Local authorities are required by legislation 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 Acts 2001 to 2015. The annual rate on valuation (ARV), to be applied to the valuation of each property, is decided by the elected members of each local authority in the annual budget and is a reserved function.

Under Part 5 of the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2015, the Commissioner of Valuation is conducting a revaluation of all commercial and industrial properties throughout the State. To date, revaluations have been fully completed in respect of 16 of 31 local authority areas. The purpose of the revaluation process is to provide for more consistent and up-to-date valuations for rating purposes and to assist in providing a more equitable distribution of valuations across those liable to pay rates. The process provides for the revaluation of all rateable property within a rating authority area to reflect changes in value due to economic factors such as business turnover, differential movements in property values or other external factors and changes in the local business environment.

I understand that prior to the enactment of the Valuation Act 2001, if a property had both a commercial and domestic element, it was common practice by the Commissioner of Valuation to value it as a whole and to include a "domestic allowance" to reduce valuation in respect of the domestic area of the property. As valuation lists in local authorities are revalued, as part of the national revaluation programme, only commercial elements of properties are valued and therefore domestic allowances become obsolete.