Tipperary protest group march4tipp hit out at rates waiver

Tipperary County Council waived €283,000 in rates last year in Tipperary Town according to the March4Tipp group.

March4Tipp received the information as a result of a Freedom of Information request.

March4Tipp, responding to the figures contained in the documents released, said  in significant cases, very wealthy companies and individuals have benefited. The result is, said the group, that many valuable commercial and industrial premises lie empty, employing nobody, all of this at a time when businesses that are open for business are struggling to pay rates.

The information shows that Tipperary Town has 124 properties paying no rates based on claims of unavoidable vacancy.

Annmarie Ryan, who is a candidate for March4Tipp in the forthcoming local elections said -  “At a time when Tipperary Town, which has the highest unemployment in the county, is crying out for jobs, many commercial and industrial properties lie empty. 

“Our Freedom of Information request has  revealed that the wealthy owners of many of these properties benefit from zero rates. March4Tipp believes that this actually operates as an incentive to leave buildings empty. The belief is that if the owners had to pay full rates, they would be genuinely looking to either get a paying tenant in, or to sell them to someone who would use them”.

She said the council, in responding to March4Tipp’s FOI request, did not identify the properties that are the subject of these  benefits.  However, she adds that the amount being waived in rates gives an insight into the scale of the properties involved. 

“In the case of one property owner alone, a staggering €70,635.45 was waived by the council in rates in 2018.  This shows clearly that a very large industrial property is involved. Calculations suggest that this property could be in the region of 7,000 square metres. No poor person owns a property of that size, so why are they being subsidised by other rate payers?” according to Annemarie Ryan.

In another case a property owner benefited from a waiver of €27,547.97 in rates. Two other property owners benefited by more than €10,000 each, while another benefited by €9,182. In total, 6 property owners benefited by between €5,000 and €10,000 in rates waived for empty properties by the Council in 2018.

Another March4Tipp candidate, Lisa McGrath said -  “The obvious conclusion of all of this is that the waiver of rates by the council is operating as an incentive to keep important properties shut and employing nobody.  

“While the owners of properties were not identified in the FOI response from the council, and these two properties may not be getting any waiver of rates, the former Pall and Atari factories once employed many hundreds of people from the area, effectively fuelling the local economy.  

“Now, they lie idle, employing nobody.  The much smaller Sky Innovation Park is now being touted by some politicians as our employment future, while much bigger industrial infrastructure is gathering dust. 

“Some councillors have even said we need a “business park”. There is plenty of industrial and commercial infrastructure in Tipperary Town. The problem is it is mostly lying empty, unused and employing nobody”.

“If an owner of a large industrial property that is showing a ‘For Lease” sign and genuinely wanted to lease it, instead of merely wanting free rates, it would be reasonable to see the property advertised for lease in the usual ways”, McGrath continued. 

 “A search online for industrial properties available for lease in Tipperary Town shows surprisingly few results. That begs the question whether the owners of vacant industrial and commercial properties are making genuine efforts to lease or sell them. 

“Paying no rates is an incentive to keeping them vacant while the owners wait for property values to recover”.

“Some “For Lease” signs do not mention any auctioneer and, in some cases, when the phone numbers shown were called by March4Tipp, nobody answered. This would suggest that some “For Lease” signs may in fact be flags of convenience to allow the owners to benefit from zero rates” she said.

Another election candidate Barry Walsh said all  of this is being revealed at a time when struggling businesses in the town face increased council demands for rates, even though their businesses are seriously impacted by the Council’s road works. 

 “It is difficult to see the justice in €283,000 in rates being waived for property owners by the council when hard pressed businesses must pay up.  Small, struggling businesses that are not making money are forced to pay their rates, while rich property owners pay no rates as they sit on their large, empty properties - properties that could be employing people”.

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