asked the Minister for the Environment if all guesthouses, registered or otherwise, will be derated.

Domestic rates relief will not extend to guesthouses registered under the Tourist Traffic Act, 1939, save in so far as any portion of a guesthouse may be used wholly for dwelling purposes. Local authorities have however been instructed that private dwellings which otherwise would qualify for full domestic derating should not cease to be regarded as so qualifying solely by reason of their being used also to provide tourist accommodation.

This instruction applies whether or not the houses in question are included in the non-statutory lists compiled by Bord Fáilte of town houses, country houses or farmhouses.

I intend that provision similar to the foregoing will be made in the forthcoming legislation.

Would the Minister amplify the situation in relation to farm guesthouses and student hostels and in relation to a landlady keeping a few lodgers? Will such a landlady be exempt?

Derated, yes.

Is the Minister categorically confirming that?

I mentioned farm guesthouses in my reply. The only guesthouses which will not be derated are those registered under the Tourist Traffic Act, 1939.

The private dwelling house keeping a few people for tourist purposes would not be subject to rates, but what about the private dweling-house in which some lodgers are kept on a regular basis?

They are derated.