Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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151. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government whether S.I. No. 166/2007 - Local Government (Business Improvement Districts Ratepayer Plebiscite) Regulations 2007 remains in force and applicable within the areas that were previously under the jurisdiction of those bodies; and if the Regulations continue to apply, if he will outline the body of elected members that now holds decision making authority in relation to any proposed Business Improvement District (B.I.D.) plebiscite (details supplied) [22760/26]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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A Business Improvement District Scheme is an organisational and financing mechanism, (provided for under the Local Government (Business Improvement Districts) Act 2006), through which businesses can, on a self-help basis, develop and implement initiatives, in defined areas, to improve those areas for the betterment of the trading environment in which they operate.

In a Business Improvement District (BID) Scheme, a group of businesses are empowered, where a majority of those businesses agree, to raise a special charge which is payable by all the businesses in the defined area to pay for the carrying out of complementary local services and improvements, within that defined area. The boundary and the range of the local services and improvements to be carried out in the defined area of a Business Improvement District Scheme are determined by the proposing business community in association with the local authority.

The Local Government Reform Act 2014, reduced the number of rating authorities from 88 to 31. The BID legislation provides that a rating authority may by resolution specify the area for the establishment of a BID and approve a BID scheme following the majority agreement of ratepayers in a plebiscite. A condition of the resolution is that the members of the rating authority consider the scheme does not conflict in any material way with the interest of the local community. At least one-third of the members of the rating authority need to vote in favour of the resolution for the establishment of a business improvement district. While the proposing business community in association with the local authority agree the boundary or area to which the BID applies, under the BID legislation and the current local authority structure, one-third of the full plenary council need to vote in favour of a scheme proposed for any sub-district of the county.

The Local Government (Business Improvement Districts Ratepayer Plebiscite) Regulations 2007 (S.I. No. 166/2007) which specify the arrangements for holding the relevant plebiscite, remain in force. References to rating authorities in the Local Government (Business Improvement Districts) Act 2006 and in the associated regulations, now mean the current local and rating authority structure, in place since 2014.