Seán Fleming
Question:87. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the position on a project (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27469/16]
View answerTuesday, 27 September 2016
Questions (87)
Written answers
The Valuation Office is currently undertaking a systematic national programme of revaluing, for rates purposes, all industrial and commercial properties in the State on a rating authority area basis. The purpose of revaluation is to bring more equity, fairness and transparency into the local authority rating system and to distribute the commercial rates liability more equitably between ratepayers. The immediate objective of the national revaluation programme is to ensure that the first revaluation of all rating authority areas in over 150 years is conducted as soon as possible. Following this revaluation, subsequent revaluations of each rating authority area will then be carried out on a cyclical basis no sooner than five years and no later than ten years after the first revaluation in accordance with Section 25 of the Valuation Act 2001.
The Commissioner of Valuation is independent in the performance of his functions and decisions with regard to the selection of rating authority areas for revaluation is his sole prerogative. Section 19(1) of the 2001 Act empowers the Commissioner, after consultation with the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and the rating authority concerned, to make a Valuation Order specifying a rating authority area over which a revaluation is to be conducted. I am advised that the revaluation programme which began with South Dublin, Fingal and Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council areas has also been rolled out to the Dublin City Council area, Waterford City and County Council area and Limerick City and County Council area. Since November 2015, revaluation is currently underway in the County Council areas of Kildare, Leitrim, Longford, Offaly, Roscommon, Sligo and Westmeath. Additionally, the second revaluation of South Dublin has commenced and statutory valuation orders were recently signed to signal the commencement of the revaluation of Counties Carlow and Kilkenny. The revaluation in these two County Council areas is being conducted on a pilot basis using outsourced external resources. This approach was provided for in the Valuation (Amendment) Act 2015 to allow the Commissioner to contract out some of the revaluation work, in order to augment the in-house capacity of the Valuation Office.
The Deputy will be aware that the Valuation (Amendment) Act 2015 has as its primary purpose the acceleration of the national revaluation programme and it contains a number of measures in this regard. In addition to the outsourcing of part of the revaluation work, the Act also provided for the Commissioner to conduct a revaluation with the assistance of the occupiers of property using elements of self-assessment. This provision, known as “Occupier Assisted Valuation”, is one of the express provisions intended to assist the acceleration of the national revaluation programme. This approach, though readily used in personal and corporate taxation codes, has not been used in comparable jurisdictions in relation to property valuations for rating purposes.
I understand that the Commissioner intends running a pilot project in the County Laois rating authority area using ”Occupier Assisted Valuation”. The Valuation Office has conducted the necessary statutory consultations both with the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and with Laois County Council and is now embarking on the development of appropriate technical and statutory systems of valuation to underpin the pilot project and allow for its initiation in 2017. Careful planning is required at this stage as the pilot involves an entirely different interaction with occupiers of property than has been the case heretofore.
The Occupier Assisted participative approach will involve the use of new sophisticated valuation tools for the first time and requires the development and implementation of extensive information and communications technology facilities. In particular, I am advised that the provision of a wide range of on-line supports will be essential to the success of the project, including use of video and audio technology to assist ratepayers in carrying out their elements of the process. It is also intended that there will be extensive engagement with the ratepayers through an information campaign which will be undertaken to ensure maximum participation to ensure the success of the pilot.