Cork's local authorities write off almost €16m in commercial rates 

Cork’s local authorities wrote off nearly €16m of commercial rates between 2019 and 2023, new data has shown, with a city councillor saying those who do not pay are “giving two fingers to City Hall”.

Data shows that Cork City Council had €13,943,422 in arrears at the end of 2019; €22,723,000 in 2020; €19,020,961 in 2021; €15,873,340 in 2022; and €15,797,317 in 2023 — a total of €87,358,040.

Cork County Council’s arrears were smaller at €9,587,252 in 2019; €10,399,767 in 2020; €10,771,609 in 2021; €8,230,599 in 2022; and €8,811,542 in 2023 — or €47,800,769 in total over the five years.

Exhausted 

In total, €15,965,722 worth of rates have been written off in Cork, with minister for housing, local government, and heritage James Browne saying that commercial rates are “only written off by local authorities after they have exhausted all means of collecting outstanding amounts owing, and it is considered that those outstanding amounts are irrecoverable”.

Cork City Council wrote off €1,798,511 of rates in 2019; €254,697 in 2020; €1,233,585 in 2021; €2,212,665 in 2022 and €1,257,257 in 2023, a total of €6,756,715.

Cork County Council wrote off more rates despite having less in arrears — €2,263,917 in 2019; €1,089,515 in 2020; €1,172,224 in 2021; €3,088,437 in 2022; and €1,594,914 in 2023, or a total of €9,209,007.

Two fingers 

Cork city Labour Party councillor Peter Horgan told The Echo that something needed to be done to address the issue.

“Commercial rate-payers simply deciding to ignore their social contract and pay what the city needs to run the services of the city has to be called out, not just by elected members but by commercial representatives also,” said Mr Horgan.

“Those who choose not to pay and give two fingers to City Hall are doing a disservice to their commercial colleagues who do honour their rate obligations.

“We cannot run a city without funds,” he said.

“We cannot have St Patrick’s Day festivals, Corkmas parades, the Dragon of Shandon, cleansing of the streets, and investment in public realm to encourage people to the city, without a budget.

“That budget needs the rates that are levied to be paid.”

Obligation

The commercial rates arrears, as well as commercial rates written off by each local authority from 2019 to 2023, were provided in the Dáil in response to a parliamentary question, with Minister James Browne explaining that 2023 is the latest year for which data is available.

“Local authorities are under a statutory obligation to levy rates on any property used for commercial purposes in accordance with the details entered in the valuation lists prepared by Tailte Éireann under the Valuation Acts 2001 to 2020,” Mr Browne said.

“The levying and collection of rates are matters for each individual local authority,” he added.

The Echo contacted Cork City and Cork County Councils for comment.