Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 July 2012
336 Deputy Seán Kyne asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will report on the progress of implementing those recommendations categorised as immediate, short and medium term of the small advisory group’s report entitled The Voice of Small Business for which he has been designated as having lead responsibility. [33643/12]
View answerMy Department has been identified, in the Small Advisory Group's Report — The Voice of Small Business , as having lead responsibility for implementing recommendations in relation to local government reform and efficiencies, commercial rates, property taxes, water charges and the taxing of commercial vehicles.
With regard to local government reform, the Government's broad policy approach was set out in the Programme for Government. In line with this, I intend to bring proposals to Government shortly for an extensive programme of local government reform. Subject to the Government's decisions, I will publish a comprehensive Policy Statement setting out a clear vision for the future of local government and proposals to achieve it, with particular focus on strengthening structures generally at regional, county and sub-county levels, expanding the role of local government, maximising operational and organisational efficiency and improving governance, oversight, local political and executive leadership and citizen engagement.
With regard to the recommendations contained in the Report of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group, I established an independently chaired Implementation Group in April 2011 to drive forward relevant recommendations of the Report, with a focus on key recommendations that will remove costs and yield early savings. The Group has recently completed an interim report and I am considering its contents in the overall context of the Local Government Reform Programme.
With regard to commercial rates, local authorities have responded positively in recent years to requests to exercise restraint in setting commercial rates. 68 rateable local authorities when adopting their 2012 budgets maintained their ARVs at 2011 levels, and 19 reduced theirs. Overall, the average change of ARV from 2011 to 2012 shows a decrease of 0.31%. There are currently no plans to review the regulations or other legislation relating specifically to the payment of commercial rates.
With regard to property taxes, an independently-chaired Inter-Departmental Expert Group was established to consider the structures and modalities for an equitable valuation-based property tax. The Group has recently completed its work and submitted its report to me. I will now be considering the approach to the report in consultation with my Government colleagues.
With regard to water charges, the Memorandum of Understanding with the EU/IMF and ECB commits Ireland to introducing water charges for households during the programming period. However, no decision has been taken by the Government on the exact date for the introduction of water charges. The Government considers that charging based on usage is the fairest way to charge for water and it has decided that water meters should be installed in households connected to public water supplies.
With regard to the taxing of commercial vehicles, Article 3 of the Road Vehicles (Registration and Licensing) (Amendment) Regulations 1992 provides that a licensing authority must be satisfied that a vehicle is correctly taxed. Departmental Circular MT4/1, issued in August 2010, contained an instruction to licensing authorities that an applicant, in particular in relation to small vans and adapted goods vehicles, should be asked for supporting documentation which can include, but is not limited to, evidence of registration for VAT, a Tax Clearance Certificate, a commercial insurance certificate, or a copy of a "Notice of Tax Registration Form". Form RF 111A Goods Declaration Form requires an applicant who is applying for a vehicle to be taxed at the goods rate to provide a Revenue registration identity number to confirm that he or she has a business registered for tax purposes. The Road Traffic Act 2012 places obligations on insurers to provide details of insurance policies. Assisted by this legal framework, it is understood that the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is currently working with the Irish Insurance Federation (IIF) to obtain insurance details of vehicles in electronic format.
The Department is also identified in the summary list of actions as responsible agency for accelerating the national revaluations process. This is a matter for the Commissioner of Valuation.
