COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

South Dublin County Council Crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, April 11, 2022

QUESTION NO. 13

QUESTION: Councillor K. Mahon

To ask the Chief Executive to comment on the proposed impact of the Government's approach to rate supports during the Covid pandemic and any subsequent tapering off of state supports? Does he see a similar level of expenditure as 2022 being available through rates for the 2023 Budget? 

REPLY:

In August 2020, the Government announced a six-month waiver of Commercial Rates in Circular Fin 11/2020. The waiver applied to large categories of businesses impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. A small number of categories such as Global Utility Networks, Data Centres, Large Supermarkets and Public Sector were excluded from this scheme. The scheme was extended in October 2020, for an additional 3-month period, to the end of December 2020. This 9-month waiver scheme provided support to South Dublin County Council’s Commercial Rates customers to the value of €59.2m and was applied to 6,740 accounts.

In January 2021, a new waiver scheme was announced to continue to support businesses most impacted by the Covid-19 restrictions. This was a more focused scheme and therefore, modified eligibility criteria to qualify for the scheme applied. Businesses in the eligible categories, such as hospitality, leisure, retail, personal care, and childcare had the waiver applied to their accounts. This scheme covered quarter 1 – quarter 3 2021 or 75% of the annual rates.

In October 2021, a more targeted waiver scheme was announced for quarter 4 of 2021 for 25% of the annual rates. With the lifting of restrictions, the quarter 4 waiver was targeted at businesses that remained most impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Eligible categories included hospitality, leisure, entertainment, tourism, and airports.

The 2021 waiver schemes provided financial support to SDCC’s Commercial Rates customers to the value of €27.8m across 2,321 accounts.

The quarter 4 2021 waiver scheme was extended for quarter 1 of 2022. In 2022 to date, credits to the value of €2.9m have been applied to 470 accounts. There is no indication that the rates waiver scheme will be extended beyond quarter 1 of 2022.

The 2023 Annual Budget process won’t begin for several months, but the process will include a full evaluation of all incomes and expenditures for the forthcoming year.