The Valuation Office is conducting a revaluation of all commercial and industrial properties in County Kerry as part of the programme to revalue all such properties in the State. In the last week, many people in the county have been shocked by the proposed valuation figures they have received. Traders and operators from all walks of life in all parts of the county are terrified at the proposed doubling and tripling of their rates demands, from one-man operators, small garages and repair shops, small pubs and shops, hardware stores, restaurants, hairdressers, chemists, bakers, butchers and sweet shops to the big employers such as hotels, fabricators and manufacturing companies like Liebherr, Munster Joinery, concrete products and the likes.

Traders are told if they do not accept, they can appeal but a valuation officer has a right to visit the property. It is quite possible that many traders will close when they size up the situation they find themselves in. It is easier to keep doors open now than to try to get them to reopen later. I call on the Tánaiste to defer this process. Things are bad enough. People are struggling to survive after Covid, Brexit and now the massive increase in energy and all other costs. People should only be assessed on profits, not on sales or the market rental value.

This revaluation was postponed back in 2020 because of the virus. I ask that this process be deferred for the foreseeable future, especially because of increased energy costs while many traders are just finding their feet this year. They had the support payments from the Government over the last two years but trading after the pandemic has changed for many businesses, not least those that cannot operate online delivery services of supplies of food, clothes, furniture, parts and all types of goods and materials. They are disadvantaged because they must have a physical building on the side of a street. If a shop closes down, it adversely affects all other businesses on the street.

One owner of a restaurant told me he has to pay for rent, increased wages, PRSI, PAYE, insurance, electricity, water, refuse and VAT, which is going up next March. The prices for heating and cooking oil have gone mad. This man's rates are proposed to go from €31,000 to €60,000. For others, rates will increase from €1,500 to €5,000 and €24,000 to €58,000 in places like Killarney, Tralee, Listowel, Kenmare, Dingle, Cahersiveen and Rathmore. Everyone who got a proposed valuation was given a figure - let us say it was €15,000 - and told to multiply that by 0.227 when they asked to get the real proposed figure. Why could the Valuation Office not have the correct figure it was proposing included in the document in the first place?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. My county, Dublin Fingal, went through the revaluation process some years ago. I know how traumatic and frightening it can be for some businesspeople when they receive a letter in the post telling them their rates are to go up by a dramatic amount. There is, as the Deputy noted, an appeals process. I encourage anyone who has had a valuation changed to avail of that. A lot of people find that the amount comes down on appeal.

It is important to point out that when the revaluation is done, it is on a revenue-neutral basis. Some people are winners and see their valuations down. Others are losers and see their valuations go up. In Kerry, for example, valuations are going down for two thirds of businesses and going up for one third. Understandably, as politicians, it is the one third who are seeing an increase that we hear from and not the two thirds who are seeing a decrease. As the Deputy pointed out, when some people get the letter in the post they do not apply the 0.227 multiplier so there is an initial shock because they believe they will see a huge increase in their rates. Then, when they do the calculation they find that is not the case. I agree with the Deputy. I do not see why the Valuation Office cannot do that calculation. It is pretty straightforward and I think it should do that. The matter was raised by Deputy Griffin at a meeting not long ago. I will make contact with the Valuation Office, on behalf of Irish businesses, to ask it to do exactly that. It is a simple thing and it should be doable.

There are walk-in valuation clinics in Kerry all this week - they are in Dingle and Kenmare today, for example - where business owners can go in, talk to a human being and have this worked through and discussed.

I thank the Tánaiste but, as he said, people are shocked and terrified, and rightly so. The local authority has said it will not benefit from the revaluation but the valuation has not come down for any of the people I have met on the street and around Kerry. I cannot understand that. I know of one person for whom it came down by €100 but it is more than doubling in many cases. Many of these traders are renting. They cannot afford another increase on top of all the increases they have to deal with now.

The Government was able to defer it in 2020 for the virus and it has the power to do so again and review it. I am asking that people be dealt with based on whether they are making profit. If they are not making profit, it is very unfair to charge them on the rental value of their property or their sales because sales do not reflect the profit. That is what is wrong with this whole thing.

It is important to point out again that this is being done on a revenue-neutral basis. There is no tax increase here and two thirds of businesses in Kerry will see their rates go down. I appreciate that we are hearing from the one third who are not, particularly those who are seeing a big increase, but two thirds are seeing their rates go down. To defer the revaluation would adversely affect more businesses than going ahead with it would.

In the medium term, we need to examine a new tax to replace commercial rates. The Commission on Taxation and Welfare suggested that we move towards a site valuation tax, a commercial property tax. There are pluses and minuses to that, as in the case of any reform. However, in those circumstances the charges would fall on the owner of the building rather than the operator of the business. That is something we are considering but that is for the medium term. In the meantime, the valuation goes ahead.

Plenty more places will close down.