Conor D McGuinness warns ECCE providers hit by surprise Waterford rates

Thank you very much, thank you very much. And also, in the future, we are going to talk about the knowledge of the service of Cunnav Linnav in the field of Cundae Fort Laurega. And we have a lot of knowledge about the service of Cundae Fort Laurega. We are going to ask Billy for the rest of us, Billy of Córlio Cáthrach and Cundae Fort Laurega Igáscárth Ó Álló Chál on Tallte Éireann. Minister, this is a really serious issue affecting childcare providers in County Waterford. I've no doubt that similar issues, if they haven't already arisen, will be arising in other counties. And what has happened is a number, almost a dozen childcare providers that I've been in touch with, received astronomical rates bills from Waterford City and County Council just before Christmas. These are businesses, private businesses, that are providing solely the ECCE scheme, funded entirely by the state. And they never paid rates. They were never liable for rates in the past. They didn't expect to be liable for rates. And they've been hit with bills, in some cases, 4,280 euros. Another instance of an eye-watering, and I'm glad you're sitting down, Minister, because an eye-watering figure of 12,040 euros of rates bill to land three days before Christmas. These operators are telling me that they cannot continue if they have to pay those rates bills. We know, and there's been discussion in this chamber in the last couple of weeks, about the issues affecting the childcare sector, how many providers are leaving the industry, they're closing, they're letting people go, how many parents are finding it hard to get spaces. And every provider that leaves the industry is another burden for parents to face in terms of accessing childcare. And that's before we get into the cost of running the business and the affordability for parents to have their children cared for. Now, these rates bills came as somewhat of a surprise, Minister, because, as I said already, these businesses that hadn't been liable for rates had never received a rates bill before. They operated under the understanding, and the legitimate understanding, that they were exempt from rates, because they provided purely ECCE services. They didn't operate additional childcare services, or, indeed, any other commercial operation from their premises. And they were operating on the basis of a circular issued by the Valuation Office in 2010 that says, and I have it here in front of me, that exemption from rates, you must comply with the following qualifying criteria. And the qualifying criteria are that the property is used exclusively for the 38-week sessional ECCE-funded preschool services and for no other purpose, such as child-minding crash funded by private fees or any other commercial use. And that the expenses incurred in providing this ECCE preschool sessional service are defrayed wholly or mainly out of monies provided by the Exchequer. So they satisfy those criteria. They've always satisfied those criteria. Nothing in their business operation, nothing in their service provision has changed. Yet Talta-Erin took it upon themselves at the end of last year to conduct valuations on their premises and then to issue notice to Waterford City and County Council, who are duly bound to issue bills to them seeking extortionate, I would say, rates that are really going to put them out of business, if we're being honest. They're going to put them out of business, reducing a level of service in rural areas and small towns in County Waterford, much needed employment in those communities and indeed a huge service for parents who maybe have to commute to work into Clonnell or Waterford City or down as far as Little Island and Cork. So really what I would like to hear from you and from Minister James Brown is a plan of action. One, clarification. Has there been a change of policy? Are these businesses that were exempt from rates now rateable? What has changed? When was that policy changed? By whom? For what reason? And how was it communicated? Or if there has been no such change in policy, how are we going to resolve this issue so these businesses can keep providing the services that are so badly needed? I would like to thank Deputy McGuinness for raising this matter and forgiveness for giving me the opportunity to clarify the position regarding early child care and education for cities, commercial rates and the role of Taltairn in that regard. I am taking this topic on behalf of James Brown, TD, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Taltairn is an independent government agency that provides a property registration system, property valuation service and national mapping and surveying infrastructure for the State. Taltairn is independent in the exercise of its valuation functions under the Valuation Act 2001 as amended. Neither the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, nor the Department, have any function in decisions in this regard. Taltairn has overall responsibility under the Act for the maintenance of all valuation lists used by local authorities in the calculation of rates and liabilities. Under the Act, all property is rateable unless it falls into one of the exempt categories listed Schedule IV of the Act. There is a very specific range of exemptions that can be applied, and Taltairn has no discretionary latitude to grant exemptions not covered by Schedule IV. Paragraph 22 of Schedule IV of the Act, which was inserted by the Evaluation Amendment Act 2015, refers specifically to early childhood care and education and provides an exemption for any land, building or part of a building used exclusively for the provision of early childhood care and education and occupied by a body which is not established and the affairs of which are not conducted for the purpose of making a private profit. Therefore, while the Act provides that early childhood care and education that are operated on a not-for-profit basis are exempt from rates, it does not provide a general exemption from rates for all child care and child magnitude operating on a for-profit basis. To avoid ambiguity, if an early childhood care and education is operated on a for-profit basis, then it does not fulfil the criteria for exemption under paragraph 22. As a matter of course, Taltairn examines all properties under individual merits by reference to relevant statutory provisions governing the operation of the Act and case law arising from the Independent Evaluation Tribunal and the Higher Courts. There are a number of avenues of redress for an occupier of rateable property who is dissatisfied with the determination of valuation by Taltairn made under the provisions of the Evaluation Act 2001 as amended. Firstly, before the determination is made, there is a right to make representation to Taltairn in relation to a proposed valuation. Later in the process, if the occupier is still dissatisfied with the determination, there is a right of appeal to the Evaluation Tribunal, which an independent body is set up for the purpose of hearing appeals against the determinations of Taltairn. There is a right of appeal to the Higher Courts and a point of law. Under Irish law, there is a distinct separation of function between the valuation of rateable property and the setting and collection of commercial rates. commercial rates payable on a particular property is a product of the valuation of that property determined by Taltairn multiplied by the annual rate of valuation and valuation of the ARV, which is set annually by the elected members of the Local Authority as part of its budgetary process. The billing and collection of rates is solely a matter for the relevant Local Authority. Taltairn has no function in that regard. Thank you for that response and in a way it does clarify the situation in that, I think you said it fairly explicitly there, that for-profit childcare providers are liable for rates. However, there has been a change of policy and it may have taken place several years ago, but there has been a change of policy. That policy was not enacted or executed in County Waterford. It didn't, these businesses were not liable for rates in the past and they have now been hit with these bills. Nobody has communicated with them this change of policy and now they find themselves, several of them that will be forced if these rates bills stay and they're forced to pay them that they'll have no option but to shut down. I think that there is, the government is missing a trick here, to be absolutely honest. These might be private commercial operators in one way, but on the other hand they are providing exclusively a state service paid for exclusively by the state. And they're agents effectively of the state. And their existence and their provision of the ECCE service is precisely because the state, they're filling a gap that the state has left. They're filling a gap that the state has left in rural communities, in places like Leamy Bryan, in places like Kilmack Thomas, in Lismore, in Abbeyside, in Turanina. These are facilitating people getting to work, particularly women, being in the workforce, contributing to the local economy, having that level of independence, jobs in rural Ireland, being able to have their children looked after in a place, because the state has never provided that service. So they're providing the service now paid for by the state, yet they're being hit with bills in some cases of €12,040 of a rates bill. So if there has been a change in policy, and I take it from your answer that I listened to and that I read as you were reading it, that there has been this change in policy that had happened several years ago, but it is only now being executed and put into effect in Waterford, and it is creating havoc. So I'm saying that there is a gap here, there's something that government does need to address, because effectively these agents for state services are being put out of business while the sector is already in freefall. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Once again, I'd like to thank Deputy McGuinness for raising this matter and for giving me the opportunity to clarify a position regarding early childhood care and the education facilities, commercial rates and the role of Taltairn in the matter. As I said earlier, I'm taking this topic of the issue by behalf of James Brown, T.D., Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Taltairn is independent of the exercise of the Valuation Functions under Valuation Act as amended. The Act provides that the early childhood care and education facilities that are operated on a not-for-profit basis are exempt from rates. It does not provide a general exemption from rates for all childcare or child-minded facilities operating on a for-profit basis. There are a number of avenues of redress for an Occupy of Rated Repropriations which is dissatisfied with termination of valuation by Taltairn. The billing of collection of rates is solely a matter for the relevant local authority, Taltairn. As I said, Taltairn has no function in that regard. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. o