1783. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason Schedule 4 of the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2023 provides for the exemption of property used exclusively for charitable purposes from commercial rates, but does not extend this exemption to retail activities carried out by charities where the proceeds are used solely to support their charitable objectives; whether consideration has been given to amending the legislation in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57910/26]

Tailte Éireann is an independent Government agency and provides a property registration system, property valuation service, and national mapping and surveying infrastructure for the State. Tailte Éireann is independent in the exercise of its valuation functions under the Valuation Act 2001, as amended (the Act), and I, as Minister, have no function in decisions in this regard.

Tailte Éireann (TÉ) has overall responsibility under the Valuation Act 2001, as amended (the Act), for the maintenance of all Valuation Lists used by Local Authorities in the calculation of rates liability. The Act provides that all buildings used or developed for any purpose are rateable unless expressly exempted under Schedule 4 of the Act. There is a very specific range of exemptions that can be applied, and TÉ has no discretionary latitude to grant exemptions not covered by Schedule 4 to exclude a property from a Valuation List.

A property occupier having charitable status does not automatically confer an exemption from valuation. As a matter of course, Tailte Éireann examines all property occupied by a charitable organisation by reference to its own facts and circumstances in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions governing the operation of the Act and case law arising from the independent Valuation Tribunal and the Higher Courts.

Under Irish law there is a distinct separation of functions between the valuation of rateable property and the setting and collection of commercial rates. The commercial rates payable on a particular property is a product of the valuation of that property determined by TÉ multiplied by the “Annual Rate on Valuation” (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.