asked the Minister for Local Government why the rate relief given on agricultural land is not applied in the same manner in urban areas as in county health districts; and whether any consideration will be given to compensating urban areas, including county boroughs, for rate reliefs which they are obliged to grant to occupiers of agricultural land under the provisions of the Local Government Act, 1946, and the various City Management Acts.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Rate Relief on Agricultural Land.
20.
The Rates on Agricultural Land (Relief) Acts apply only to land in county health districts. Land in urban areas is rated on a proportion only of the valuation. Such land includes, in addition to parks, playing fields and other open spaces, building sites and other non-agricultural land which, as compared with land in county health districts, has an enhanced value as potential sites for housing and other development due, in the main, to the operations of the local authority and the availability of the public services provided.
It is not proposed to compensate urban authorities from State grants for the statutory rate reliefs they are required to give in respect of such land or to change the law which, since 1898, has made this distinction between land in county health districts and in urban areas.