Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 December 2021
223. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total payments made to Cavan County Council and Monaghan County Council under the commercial rates waiver scheme in 2020 and 2021; the projected payment for the first quarter of 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61014/21]
View answerIn order to support ratepayers, and in recognition of the impacts of COVID 19 and the associated public health restrictions, the Government put in place a commercial rates waiver in 2020 and recouped €729m to local authorities in respect of its cost. This meant that for eligible businesses their commercial rates were funded by Government for nine months of 2020. Payments to the 31 local authorities in respect of the 2020 waiver were completed in early 2021. Cavan County Council and Monaghan County Council received totals of €5,968,334.74 and €6,137,861.96 respectively.
€480m was allocated by Government to fund the cost of a nine month waiver for Q1 to Q3 this year. It applied to businesses most seriously affected by the restrictions. Automatic eligibility was extended to hospitality including hotels, pubs and restaurants, leisure and entertainment, personal services such as hairdressers and barbers, and various other sectors. Categories of commercial property, such as offices, industrial premises, and banks that were not automatically eligible could qualify if they could provide proof of serious impact to their local authority. Payments to the 31 local authorities in respect of the Q1-Q3 2021 waiver are due to issue to local authorities shortly. Cavan County Council and Monaghan County Council are due to receive totals of €3,494,232.81 and €3,331,203.26 respectively.
The Government, in Budget 2022, announced a more targeted commercial rates waiver for Q4 2021 to cover the hospitality and tourism sectors and €62.3m has been allocated by Government for this purpose. Details of the funding to be recouped to local authorities for the Q4 waiver will be available in the new year, once all local authorities have completed returns.
On 3 December I announced, with my colleague, Minister of State Peter Burke TD, an extension for the first three months of 2022, of the current targeted waiver covering the hospitality and tourism sectors. Details of the funding to be recouped to local authorities for the Q1 waiver will be available in 2022.
