Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 16 Feb 1988

Vol. 377 No. 9

Valuation Bill, 1987 [ Seanad ]: Second Stage.

Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Mr. N. Treacy)

The Bill now before the House, which passed all Stages in Seanad Éireann prior to the Christmas recess, is a further step in the modernisation of the valuation code.

As Deputies are aware, the rateable valuation assessed on properties under the Valuation Acts form the basis for the computation of rates and, as such, play a significant part in the system of local authority financing. Rates revenue from commercial and industrial property amounted to £175 million in 1987. It is, therefore, important that the valuation system be operated in a cost effective and equitable manner. Efficient and flexible procedures for the listing of properties for valuation, determining valuations and the hearing of appeals must be available.

The bulk of the existing code is rooted in mid-19th century legislation, the Valuation Act of 1986 being one of the few valuation statutes in the 20th century. During the passage of that Act, Members of both Houses expressed the view that far more radical changes were required. In response the then Minister for Finance explained that this was a major undertaking, that the Valuation Acts were being reviewed and that further legislation of a more comprehensive nature would follow later. The proposals in this Bill represent very positive progress in the modernisation process.

The examination of other aspects of the legislation is continuing and my objective is to introduce a single modern statute at the earliest possible date covering all aspects of valuation for rating purposes. I am sure that the House would welcome such a development and I will be glad to have the views of Members on the nature and content of such a statute.

The main purpose of the Bill is, first, to establish a Valuation Tribunal to hear appeals against rateable valuations determined by the Commissioner of Valuation in the course of first appeals to him. This will replace the present system of appeal to the Circuit Court; second to introduce continuous revision of the valuation lists throughout the year in substitution for the existing single annual revision; third, to provide for the valuation of public utility undertakings on a global basis and the apportionment of the valuation between the functional areas of local authorities and fourth, to provide for the delegation of functions by the Commissioner of Valuation.

I will now explain the background to the measures proposed and the consequences. First, the Valuation Tribunal: under existing law a first appeal against a valuation can be made to the Commissioner of Valuation. His determination can then be appealed to the Circuit Court but it is now proposed to establish a tribunal to hear such appeals. Valuation appeals raise complex questions about technological developments, returns on investment, diverse uses of property, commercial practices and market trends, issues which are best decided by a specialised tribunal. Members of the valuation profession, both in the public and private sectors, and the rating authorities strongly support the establishment of a specialised appeal authority.

The new Valuation Tribunal, to be appointed by the Minister for Finance, will consist of persons with professional competence and business experience in the area of property valuation and law. The intention is that the chairman and deputy chairmen will have legal qualifications. Determinations of the tribunal may be appealed to the High Court on a point of law.

It is envisaged that the tribunal will issue written judgments setting forth the reasons for the determinations and that such reports will be available within a short period. If the volume of work so demands, the tribunal may act by divisions and the question of sitting in different provincial centres can be considered also.

I now turn to the second measure proposed in the Bill, the introduction of continuous revision of valuation. At present listing and revision of property valuations works on an annual cycle. The Valuation Office issue the valuations of listed properties to local authorities for publication on a statutory date, 1 November each year. The process of appeal then begins together with the listing of properties, including new property for first-time valuation, for the following year's revision. Such requests for revision, which must be submitted to the Valuation Office by 14 February, average 60,000 per annum and form the largest part of the workload of the Valuation Office. All of these requests have to be submitted during the same short period, and subsequently valued by a specified date, compelling both local authorities and the Valuation Office to operate within an inflexible system.

Under the system of continuous revision now proposed, a ratepayer, a local authority or an officer of the Commissioner of Valuation may, at any time during the year, seek a revision of the valuation of property entered in the valuation lists or the inclusion of new property on the lists. The commissioner will appoint persons from among his staff to investigate the requests for revision. The revision work, in virtually all cases, will be completed within six months of receipt of the request. However, it is necessary to allow for some flexibility in the residue of cases where the availability of documentation or other complications cause unavoidable delay in determining a valuation. The results of revisions will be incorporated in a list of valuations issued by the Valuation Office to rating authorities at quarterly intervals. For rates purposes, the relevant valuations will be the latest ones available when a local authority meet to strike the rate in their rating area. The commencement date of continuous revision will be fixed by ministerial order.

Continuous revision will promote greater efficiency in operating the valuation system, and will also ensure that revisions can be quickly and regularly entered in the rate books. I am confident that the change will be welcomed by local authorities and the professional valuation bodies.

The Bill also provides for the global valuation of public utility undertakings and the apportionment of such valuation across local authority areas. The term "public utility" is applied to concerns such as the Electricity Supply Board which supply services to the public on a national or regional basis. These undertakings consist of a number of main production units, such as an electricity generating station, but, in producing and distributing the service, they comprise a wider network of lines, pipes, cables or wires which are necessary to get their products to the consumer. These "appendages" are an integral part of the undertaking and must therefore be included in the valuation. Unfortunately, existing legislation does not readily permit the valuation of all such property. The only way in which the property of a public utility, such as the ESB, can be valued is to have every single item of property, which is widely distributed throughout the country, listed by each rating authority.

The global basis of valuation, which will look at all the property of an undertaking, gets around this problem. The global valuation will be based on an estimate of the effective capital value of the undertaking as a whole. The Bill also provides that the global valuation may be apportioned by the Commissioner of Valuation across different local authority areas.

Finally, the Bill provides for delegation of functions by the Commissioner of Valuation. Under the present legislation the commissioner has virtually no discretion to delegate any of his functions. For instance, there are about 4,000 first appeals each year but each of these must be personally determined by the commissioner. Many of the appeals could be handled by the senior valuer staff in the Valuation Office if the commissioner had authority to delegate the authority to his officers in appropriate cases. Delegation of functions, as proposed, will improve the operational efficiency of the Valuation Office and will enable the commissioner to concentrate on the more complex valuation cases, the management of the Valuation Office and the very necessary review of valuation legislation to which I referred earlier.

I now turn to the detailed provisions of the Bill. Section 1 defines the terms used. Section 2 provides for the establishment of a Valuation Tribunal to hear appeals against determinations of the Commissioner of Valuation on first appeals. Details of the constitution and procedures of the tribunal are given in the First Schedule. The decision of the tribunal will be final subject to a right of appeal to the High Court on a question of law. The tribunal will be established on a date to be fixed by ministerial order. Appeals already lodged and pending before the Circuit Court at the time of the establishment of the tribunal will not be affected.

Section 3 provides for continuous revision of the Valuation Lists throughout the year. A ratepayer, a local authority or an officer of the Commissioner of Valuation can seek a revision of the rateable valuation of property at any time. The Commissioner of Valuation will issue the results of revisions at quarterly intervals to local authorities. The owner or occupier of any property listed for revision will be so notified by the rating authority which will also notify him of the outcome of the revision and his right to appeal against it to the Commissioner of Valuation. The section also provides for appeals to the Valuation Tribunal against decisions of the Commissioner of Valuation on first appeal and sets out the procedures involved.

Section 4 provides for the valuation of public utility undertakings on a global basis by the Commissioner of Valuation. The global valuation will be based on an estimate of the effective capital value of the undertaking as a whole. The section also provides that the global valuation may be apportioned by the Commissioner of Valuation across different local authority areas on a basis to be fixed by ministerial order. Any undertaking valued on a global basis will have the right of appeal to the Commissioner and the Valuation Tribunal.

Section 5 sets out the procedures to be followed in the case of an appeal to the High Court on points of law arising from decisions of the Valuation Tribunal. Section 6 provides that the Commissioner of Valuation may delegate any of his functions under the Valuation Acts to any officer of the Commissioner. Section 7 provides authority to set fees in respect of appeals to the Commissioner of Valuation or to the tribunal or in respect of an application made to the commissioner for the fixing of valuations.

Section 8 empowers the Minister for Finance to prescribe the form of various documents required for the purpose of the Valuation Acts. Section 9 contains the usual provision for the payment of expenses incurred in the administration of the Act. Section 10 enables the Minister to deal by regulation with any unforeseen administrative difficulties which may arise in bringing the Act into operation. Any such regulation must be laid before each House of the Oireachtas. Section 11 provides for the laying of certain orders and regulations by the Minister for Finance before the Houses of the Oireachtas. Section 12 gives the short title of the Act.

The First Schedule deals with the constitution, membership, terms and conditions of office, staffing, powers and procedures of the Valuation Tribunal to be established under section 2. The Second Schedule relates to the property of public utility undertakings for the purpose of global valuation under section 4.

I commend the Bill for the approval of the House.

Mr. Enright

This Bill is part of an ongoing process in updating the Valuation Acts. I looked recently at the Valuation Act, 1852, which was passed on 30 June of that year. There has been a move to try to update these Acts and it is essential and urgent to do this so that there is one comprehensive Act in which all the other Acts are consolidated.

The Minister's speech was detailed and helpful and I am sure many people will find it not just interesting but relevant. I agree with some sections of the Bill and I disagree with others. Section 2 refers to the establishment of a Valuation Tribunal which the Minister says will be welcomed by members of the valuation profession, both in the public and private sectors, and also by the rating authorities. While that is true, there is no doubt that at least an equal number — of the people to whom I have spoken — of valuers and members of local authorities are very much in favour of allowing the appeals to remain within the province of the Circuit Court.

I have come across many cases where the Circuit Court judge either resides in the area or has been in regular communication with it and, because of that, is better suited to make a totally independent decision regarding the valuation of a particular property. I will not go into individual cases but I was an interested spectator — I had nothing to do with the case — at a court hearing regarding valuation of a business premises. The Circuit Court judge knew the area very well. He listened to the views of the expert valuer and to the very fair case put forward by the Commissioner of Valuation He made the correct decision in coming down in favour of the person appealing the increase in valuation. Although the premises had been compared to others in the locality the judge took local factors into account as he knew the area so well.

The setting up of an appeals tribunal may be beneficial in certain instances but when a decision is made by the Commissioner of Valuation to increase the valuation on a property and that decision goes before the Valuation Tribunal, the person's only recourse, if he is not happy with the tribunal's decision, is to appeal on a point of law to the High Court, if I understand the position correctly.

I am not aware of any objections to the Circuit Court making decisions on valuations. I have not heard anybody say that the cost is onerous or that particular judges have been unreasonable. If a person is not entirely happy with a decision of the tribunal he should be able to go before the Circuit Court on a point of fact as distinct from a point of law.

Whether we like it or not, going back over the years, as the Ceann Comhairle is well aware, there were many criticisms about the decisions made by An Bord Pleanála. The position has been well regularised and An Bord Pleanála are now an independent body. The local authority decide whether or not a person gets planning permission. If they decide he is not to get planning permission he can then appeal to An Bord Pleanála. In that instance the person deals with officials all the time. The ordinary man in the street, whether or not he likes courts, at least feels he gets an open hearing in open court and everything is done above board. The decision is reported in the local newspaper. Everyone can see what decision was taken and it can be published. That is a good thing. It is the right of the citizens of Ireland to go before a court and have their cases heard. As the Minister is aware, I am a solicitor but I am not saying that with any particular interest because I have rarely been involved in evaluations.

If people are aggrieved by An Bord Pleanála decisions on most occasions they feel they did not have a proper opportunity to put forward their viewpoint whereas in court, whether they are good witnesses or bad witnesses, and whether or not their counsel are good, at least they feel they have the opportunity to put their views forward in an open public forum. I notice that the Act specifies that there will be a continuous review. That is of importance and it is relevant. The Minister said the average number of appeals was 60,000 per annum. That is a huge number of requests for revision. A continuous review will avoid that sort of situation occurring. It will be of benefit to many people who, for one reason or another, do not get their applications for revision in by 14 February; they miss out and must go on to the next year. It is welcome and it will be of benefit to the local authorities, to the Valuation Office and to the people concerned, the ordinary citizen who has a grievance about his valuation at a particular time. That is to be heartily welcomed and I commend the Minister on taking that approach to it.

During the past 18 or 19 years I have had a great many dealings with the Valuation Office and I would like to put on record that I have received unfailing courtesy and co-operation from the staff of that office. This Bill came before the Seanad before Christmas. Most public representatives I met have spoken of the efficiency and courtesy which they receive from that office.

One of the matters referred to in the Bill is the question of global valuations but we can deal with that on Committee Stage. I do not know exactly how this will be worked. There is a reference to the ESB and to having their pylons included as appendages. I would like that to be more precise but again we can deal with it on Committee Stage. When we speak of a global valuation for the ESB I presume that will also apply to Bord an Móna, the IDA and all the semi-State bodies. If we are speaking of a global valuation for the ESB and if the ESB's valuation is increased, that means their rates are increased and they have to look for the cost of the increase somewhere else and it will fall on the ordinary consumer. Similarly, in the case of Bord na Móna the increase will fall back on the consumer. I will not dwell on this matter further because we can discuss it on Committee Stage. I should like to put the Minister on notice that it is something I would like to have closely examined. Perhaps when the Minister is replying he might touch on the point as to whether there will be increases because that will be of interest to many of our semi-State bodies and the services which they provide.

Another item which is of interest to me is the question of State properties. An example of this is Portlaoise Prison. The grant in lieu of rates to Portlaoise Prison was reduced by 10 per cent last year and this meant that, because they had not increased their rates Laois County Council suffered a loss of 10 per cent. The reduction of 10 per cent was made by the Valuation Office. I would like to know more about that. Did it happen across the board? If so, quite a number of counties suffered a loss in their incomes? They were expecting to get a particular income from some Government Department but there was a 10 per cent reduction which I presume applied across the board in all counties. I would like the Minister to examine that situation.

The Bill before the House this evening strikes me as somewhat like a man who requires a serious operation. He goes into hospital for the serious operation and instead of having it the surgeon decides that he will cut his toe nails. We need more comprehensive legislation to tackle the whole question of valuations of big buildings and to have an examination of the structure of our local authorities and their findings carried out. This legislation is basically what that is about. It is to raise finance from different valuations of property around the country. Sooner rather than later we will have to tackle the whole question of funding local authorities on a proper basis. In the towns and villages throughout Ireland at present, shopkeepers, people who have a small office, people who have a small industry, have their rates increased every year while their incomes are decreasing. Our local authorities depend on the grant from the Department of the Environment and on income from rates paid by shopkeepers, owners of offices, industrialists and semi-State bodies. We must remember that many business people are facing serious problems. If one visits a licensed premises, a small grocery shop or a butcher's shop one will see how they are suffering. Their income has declined in recent years.

The Minister told us that he intends introducing comprehensive consolidating legislation to cover the area of rates and I consider that essential. However, even more important than codifying existing legislation is the need to prepare a proper workable valuation system. When in Government we tried to get local authority funding on a proper footing by introducing water charges, refuse charges and so on. Those charges proved highly unpopular and we paid the penalty at local and national level for our efforts to introduce them. The Minister, whom I am sure was a member of a local authority, must be aware of the problems local authorities are facing. Slowly but surely they are grinding to a halt and unless we make a determined effort to resolve the financial problems of those bodies they will cease to exist. They do not have the funds to carry on. The big question we must face is, where will local authorities get finance from? We must deal with that issue soon rather than later.

We are all aware that a vast amount of work remains to be done by local authorities and that staff are being let go due to a lack of finance. We should tackle the issue of local finance in a comprehensive Bill dealing with valuations. On a recent radio programme I heard criticism of the condition of the roads in the Minister's county but that is only one of the problems facing local authorities. It is essential that the Government in power should have adequate legislation to raise revenue for local authorities. The Valuation Office have many experts available to prepare the necessary legislation, if the Government request them to do so. The roads in my constituency, particularly in County Laois, are impassable. Cars are being damaged and many elderly people have been injured when driving over potholes.

Most people accept that something will have to be done to give proper funding to local authorities. If we continue to place an intolerable burden on those liable for rates — shopkeepers, owners of offices and industrialists — we will have many more people going out of business. We are all aware that the sheriff has called to many business people and seized their goods because of their inability to pay their rates. In rural Ireland in the fifties, particularly in Counties Offaly and Laois and along the western seaboard, the population of many villages declined and many houses were boarded up. People left their homes because they could not meet their rates bills. I recall that people removed the roof off their premises so as to avoid liability to rates. If we continue to place heavy rates burdens on business premises and industrialists we will have them boarding up their windows again.

I can recall reading a very good book by John Healy, No One Shouted Stop, which dealt with life in rural Ireland. Mr. Healy has moved on to other areas such as culture and art and appears to have lost his understanding of what is happening in rural Ireland but he did a great service in publishing that book. Somebody will have to shout stop now.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

This is a very interesting treatise but I hope the Deputy can assure me that it is entirely relevant to the Bill before us.

Mr. Enright

It is in that shopkeepers and business people are finding it difficult to meet their annual rates bills. In County Offaly in 1985 rates were increased by £1 in the pound. In 1986 the increase was 5 per cent; in 1987 it was 5 per cent and in 1988 it was 3 per cent. The number of people paying rates is getting smaller but the amount they have to pay is getting greater. Many people are unable to pay their rates.

I appreciate that the Minister cannot solve the problem overnight but it is imperative that he should look at the system urgently. Some years ago a review of agricultural land was commenced. The information gained from that review would be of enormous benefit to officials in the Valuation Office. I understand it was the first review for more than one hundred years and that it was almost complete. I suggest to the Minister that he should press for the completion of that review and pass on the relevant information to the Valuation Office. I am sure that the records in that office are older than those in any other Government Department. Any new information would prove of enormous benefit to that office.

I accept this Bill, with the reservations I have outlined, as part of an ongoing review. I look forward to the comprehensive legislation which is promised. I hope that the question of local authority funding will have been decided before that legislation is introduced.

Mr. McCartan

The Workers' Party welcome this legislation with a number of reservations. The Minister indicated in his speech that the whole subject of valuation was linked with the very important question of the system of local authority funding. That system is slowly eroding and grinding to a halt. The Minister said that his Department are examining the whole question of comprehensive legislation and its early introduction. This must proceed with the greatest haste. All local authorities are experiencing a major crisis of funding. The city council of which the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and I are members are conscious of the constraints on the development of services.

Mr. N. Treacy

The Deputy does not seem to be pleased with all his colleagues.

Mr. McCartan

That remark is lost on me. I hope the promised legislation will arrive in the House in the near future. It is essential that any comprehensive legislation should tackle the problem caused by agricultural land not being rated for the purpose of local authority funding. It is a pity the Minister did not refer to the collection of outstanding agricultural rates. I understand the amount to be collected is in the region of £20 million. That money could be raised and handed over to local authorities to assist them in the carrying out of essential works.

At the weekend I had the opportunity, in company with Deputy Tomás Mac Giolla, the Leader of The Workers' Party, to visit the Waterford constituency and particularly the west Waterford area. In the course of our visit we met the county manager, Mr. Hurley, with whom we had a very useful discussion. It was brought home to us how difficult it is for a county manager to deal with the onerous job of running a rural area at local authority level when a percentage increase in the rates yields only a fraction of what the same percentage would yield to a manager in an urban district or corporation area. It is a major difficulty for a man such as Mr. Hurley, who is outward looking and progressive in his ideas, to tackle the various problems throughout the county. There are major difficulties in giving to the rural local authority an effective means of raising money locally. The fact that agricultural land and buildings are not subject to rating creates a major gap in local authority funding and this must be addressed without delay.

The Bill contains many innovative and useful proposals. It develops the transition from the use of court as a primary source of appeal to the tribunal. This will help the efficient running of the huge number of appeals made on an annual basis. In the Circuit Court in Dublin it was always a sight for the curious to see the assembly of hundreds of litigants and their valuers, advisers and lawyers. It was an annual event when days were set aside for the hearing of appeals. It would appear that they were being discharged and disposed of at an almost breakneck rate. One wonders whether the litigants, having being heard in public and adjudicated upon, left the environs with a sense that justice had been done.

I welcome the provision enabling the chairman of the tribunal to delegate functions. This is a useful and important development. There is no reason the technical and more mundane work cannot be undertaken by deputies of the chairman. In using the term "chairman" I am conscious that it is a generic reference. One would hope that in the constitution of the membership of the tribunal fair and reasonable recognition would be given to women. Perhaps I should use the term "chairperson".

I am not at all worried about the fact that we are transferring this kind of work from the courts to the tribunal. I am a little concerned at the provision which states that the chairperson of the tribunal must be a lawyer. I wonder whether this is desirable in this area of valuations and technicalities. I accept that there will be references from the findings of these tribunals to the High Court on points of law and I appreciate that the expertise of a lawyer would be helpful in drafting and codifying judgments. I mean no disrespect to the current chairpersons of the Employment Appeals Tribunal but I feel it is not always desirable to require these people to be lawyers. Certainly it is not an absolute necessity in this type of technical work. There is nothing to stop a chairperson or any members of the tribunal seeking advice from an expert. I wonder whether it is fair to experts in other fields concerned with valuation and revaluation that they will be automatically excluded if they do not have a legal qualification.

The concept of ongoing listing of valuations throughout the year is useful. One wonders why it has taken so long for this provision to reach the Statute Book. The legislation of 1852 and 1860 forms the bedrock of legislation in this area. It is incredible that we have waited so long for a simple proposal. I welcome the fact that the Minister can draft regulations for the purpose of making the transition from the court to the tribunal. The legislation proposes that any such regulations will be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas for their consideration. That is a very good idea and it is a point we always argued for. Regulations made by Ministers should be placed before the Houses of the Oireachtas for consideration.

I have reservations in relation to this question of the global valuation of public utilities. It is a welcome concept, the idea of centrally assessing and then apportioning down through the local authorities their entitlements with regard to utilities that are national in their spread. Why is that restricted to public utilities and semi-State bodies? Why are those in the private sector excluded, those who have multioutlet facilities and who employ the type of utilities highlighted in the scheduling in the Bill? It is unfair to single out those in the public sector only for this kind of attention. The Minister should say why larger firms and facilities that employ the same type of utilities as the public utilities highlighted in the Schedule are not included in the scope of this Bill. I think the word "global" is a misnomer in relation to the national valuation process. If the idea is to be employed it should apply across the board to all multi-outlet facilities.

Will the Minister explain how this scheme will operate. In 1977 the Government abolished local domestic rates and promised that the rates support grant would fully compensate local authorities for any loss of revenue but the rates support grant has been proportionately and systematically eroded by central Government and local authorities have been experiencing financial difficulties since that decision. Therefore, I am extremely cautious and anxious in my reception of the notion of further direct interference by central Government with the local authority fund raising activities. I want an assurance from the Minister that there will not be Government interference with the liability of public or private outlets so that we will not find that the rates to be raised from these utilities will be decreased in a year or two for a political reason, with a resulting loss of revenue to local authorities. This point must be dealt with emphatically by the Government at this stage. We want a clear unequivocal assurance that there will not be a future erosion of funds to local authorities from these large public utilities should the scheme be employed as is suggested here.

This Bill is a welcome improvement but it only helps to highlight the very major problems that exist for local authorities with regard to the outdated rating system we have with its major loopholes. I hope the Minister will, as he undertook in his introductory speech, ensure the introduction of comprehensive legislation without delay.

Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Mr. N. Treacy)

I thank Deputies for their very positive detailed contributions. Obviously both Deputies have legal experience and are in touch with many of the problems that valuations and revised valuations create. The main purpose of the Bill is to ensure that there is an updated modern consistent valuation process.

Deputy McCartan referred to the word "global" as a misnomer. To an extent it may be, but we are using the word "global" as an all embracing word encompassing all types of structures, parts, subsections, locations of all properties and ancillary equipment to be valued. We want speedy effective decisions from the valuations tribunal and we want them to be specialised and consistent on property matters. The new system will save time and expense. There should be no need for an appeal from the tribunal to the Circuit Court. On a point of law there may be an appeal, but the tribunal itself will have a lawyer as its chairperson and the deputy chairperson will have legal qualifications. We are confident that with this type of expertise the people involved in the tribunal will understand the legal implications, will have a basic knowledge of the law of valuations and will be in a position to make consistent valuations based on all the information at their disposal.

This will contrast with the present inconsistent haphazard system. The present system is very cumbersome and it does not allow for fluid decisions to be made quickly. It places undue pressure on the Valuation Office, on the Commissioner of Valuation and on local authorities, because the timescale within which they must operate and adhere to decisions is very narrow. It also creates much frustration for property owners who are the victims of revised valuations or who are the subject of revision of valuations.

Deputy Enright referred to the survey of agricultural land. I presume he was referring to the classification of land for farm tax purposes. As the House knows, the Government decided to terminate the farm tax some time ago, to ensure that farmers would be taxed on factual income like everybody else in the country and to ensure that there is equity in the tax system. The Government have been working hard over the past year to ensure that the taxation burden can be eased and spread right across the board so that there is total consistency in the application of the tax laws, that whether a person is employed by someone or is self-employed, the basic thrust of taxation will be equitable and will give similar allowances across the board.

The amount of classification done so far under the farm classification system has not been too large. The inspectors had begun with the bigger farms and they had completed the classification of holdings above 150 adjusted acres before the work had terminated.

Deputy Enright and Deputy McCartan queried the global valuation structure, who it would affect and how it will be done. The Commissioner of Valuation will request the undertaking, that is the property, utility or whatever, to produce schedules of all its fixed assets and will further ask for all information pertaining to original cost, replacement cost, age and all other details. The commissioner will then assess the effective capital value of the undertaking as defined in section 4 (4) of the Bill.

The rateable valuation will be derived from the effective capital value in accordance with section 4 (2), that is, the effective capital value multiplied by 5 per cent, giving the net annual value. The net annual value so derived will be reduced to the comparable level of rateable valuations generally.

Deputy Enright queried whom the global valuation will affect and Deputy McCartan referred to the private sector. I visualise no escape clause for any utility, semi-State, public or private, as a result of this Bill. As far as we will be concerned it will first apply to the ESB only, because they are a utility affected by major valuations. As they provide a major service to the nation they obviously have a large number of installations and properties right across the nation. In their case the contribution in lieu of rates made to the Department of the Environment will be cancelled and paid to local authorities via rates instead. No increase in rates is envisaged for the ESB. Taking the global valuation of the ESB properties, all their installations and services including lines pylons, poles and all the other items they utilise in carrying their services right across the nation will be taken into account. Taking the total valuation and apportioning it down to the area of each functional local authority, rates will be paid to each local authority based on the level of service being given in that area by the ESB.

Hereafter the global valuation can then be extended to other bodies later by ministerial order and it is hoped, once the trial period is over and the system comes into operation, that it will be fairly simple to come up with a new order, put it together, have it processed and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and passed.

Deputy Enright queried rates on Government property. Government property is statutorily exempt from rates. He queried whether rates were paid by the Government on the various properties they own. He talked about An Bord Pleanála. A Government Department or agency do not have to apply for planning permission under the law. It is at their discretion depending on the level of service they hope to provide in any area whether they apply for planning permission. They are exempt if they so wish from the planning laws. A similar situation exists pertaining to rates. However, a contribution in lieu of rates is paid by the Government via the rates on Government property Vote at present.

The contribution has been held constant over the last few years and the reductions involved have been spread uniformly across all local authority areas. If there is a reduction in the contribution made in the Government rate Vote at any time that reduction is spread right across the board and no local authority is victimised or is the sole victim of any consequent reduction. The rates or the Government property Vote and the rates support grant amount to £200 million per annum, a hefty figure.

Deputy Enright raised the financial position of local authorities. While this is outside the scope of the Bill and not really relevant to it even though the valuations that will be and have been assessed by the Valuation Officer will help to create funds for local authorities, the Minister for the Environment is at present conducting an in-depth assessment of the financial position of all local authorities and he will be reporting to the Government later this year on this matter. We await that report with interest.

Deputy McCartan in a very good contribution raised a number of points to some of which I have already referred and replied. He talked about the tribunal and the legal position. The deputy chairperson we hope will be a person with legal knowledge as will be the chairperson, and the tribunal will normally work in divisions of three people. It is not intended that both the chairperson and the deputy chairperson should sit in the same division. On the contrary, the deputy chairperson will be a genuine deputy chairperson, acting and active in his or her own division, taking the chair in the place of the chairperson.

I hope I have answered many of the questions raised in the Deputies' excellent contributions. This is a very important and progressive Bill, and we must take into account the fact that over the years there have been major advances in technology and storage of information. We are confident that this Bill will create the opportunity for global valuations, individual valuations, to be done right across the country, and that through proper information technology it will be possible to have consistent decisions, up-to-date information and on the spot apportionment of valuations of all utilities right across the board in each local authority area, thus ensuring an equitable contribution by these utilities to each local authority for the services they give within each local authority area. I look forward to Committee Stage. We will be only too delighted to answer any queries raised at that time and I know the House will be more than anxious to ensure a very good contribution then.

Question put and agreed to.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Could we get an indication as to when Committee Stage will be taken?

Mr. N. Treacy

Next Tuesday subject to agreement between the Whips.

Committee Stage ordered for Tuesday 23 February 1988.