Commercial Rates
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-21
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Malcolm Byrne (FF), Wicklow-Wexford

The response provided by the Department sets out the process by which it is carried out. I have no question about the professionalism of the public servants who carry it out but it is the principle. The Minister of State made the point about similarly sized businesses with regard to floor space. A bookshop in Gorey, Arklow, Wexford or Sligo is likely to be assessed in broadly the same way but the problem is their competition is the likes of Amazon and online sellers which are not subject to commercial rates. If we want to protect our main street business, which we all do, we have to have a level playing field. When it comes to infrastructure, for example, telecoms towers, rates are often based on turnover of the companies. I ask the Minister of State to take it back to the Minister. I feel passionately about this. The Minister of State knows how important main street shops and businesses are. This is an unfair cost on them. It is not that they are opposed to contributing but why are they put at a disadvantage when it comes to an online space? I could operate a multi-million euro businesses just from my phone and I would not need any floor space but if someone operates in our communities, providing vital services in many cases, it is ridiculous that the tax they have to pay is based on floor space. That was fine 200 years ago; it is certainly not in the case of a modern economy.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:58+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-21