Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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615. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of rate reviews that have taken place in Cork County Council in the past decade; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3151/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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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 Tailte Éireann under the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2020.

The amount of rates liable on a property is determined by multiplying the valuation of the property set by Tailte Éireann by the Annual Rate on Valuation (ARV) set by the local authority. The ARV is decided by the elected members of each local authority in their annual budget and its determination is a reserved function of a local authority. I have no role in this regard.

Commercial rates income makes a significant contribution to the funding of local government, providing between 13% and 45% of total funding for local services at individual local authority level, averaging 25% nationally. Rates income is a very important contribution to the cost of services provided by local authorities such as roads, footpaths, the public realm, litter management, public lighting, development control, parks and open spaces; all essential elements to create the environment in which businesses can prosper.

Tailte Éireann is conducting a programme of revaluation of all commercial and industrial properties throughout the State on a county by county basis. 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.

In a revaluation the entire commercial valuation list for a local authority is brought up-to-date by reference to values at a specific valuation date. The entire list comes into effect for rating purposes on 1 January in the year following the publication of the new list. The essential purpose of a revaluation is to redistribute the burden of rates more equitably in line with relative changes in valuations across different classes of properties or individual properties within particular classes or uses.

To date revaluations have been fully completed in respect of 29 of 31 local authorities. The two local authorities remaining to undergo revaluation are Cork County Council and Cork City Council, for which I understand preparatory work will commence this year.