Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 17 September 2020
104. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when local authorities will be informed of the funding to be provided to compensate them for the loss of income suffered from the rates remission given to certain businesses in 2020 due to Covid-19; if the compensation will be 100% of the income loss incurred by the local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24546/20]
View answerLocal authorities have a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes. An initial three-month waiver of rates for businesses forced to close business due to COVID-19, was announced in May. In order to enhance the supports available for enterprise, and in recognition of the fact that not only were many ratepayers forced to close business due to the public health requirements, but many that remained open suffered significant reductions in turnover, the waiver was extended from three to six months, running until 27 September 2020. The categories of eligible enterprise have also been expanded somewhat. A 100% waiver will be applied to all businesses with the exception of a small number of categories. The rationale for the exclusion of certain categories of ratepayers is that their operations were not as severely impacted by the pandemic, coupled with the need to direct resources appropriately. To support both the local government sector and the ratepayers impacted, €600m has been allocated by Government to fund the cost of a waiver of commercial rates for six months for eligible businesses, which will take the form of a credit in lieu of rates.
This allocation will cover the expected loss in rates income, as estimated by local authorities, for the period of the waiver. Local authorities will receive an initial proportional share of the available funding in the coming weeks. The remaining allocation shall be assigned based upon certified financial returns for each local authority detailing the total amount of credit in lieu of commercial rates applied to ratepayer accounts, during the period 27 March to 27 September 2020.
