SINN Féin TD for Kerry, Pa Daly, has expressed his desire for Kerry County Council to examine how much rates are refunded to the owners of vacant commercial premises.

Kerry County Council offers a 100% refund to these owners and Deputy Daly believes this is not sustainable.

“Every year, owners of vacant commercial properties can apply for a refund of rates on vacant properties they own,” he said.

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“The setting of the size of the refund is a reserved function. Figures released to me indicate Kerry is one of the Local Authorities that offers a 100% refund.

“This is not sustainable in the long term and is the major contributor to vacancy rates in our towns. It flies in the face of the government’s Town Centre first policy in the Programme for Government. It is easy for someone to claim they have made efforts to rent out a commercial property whilst not actually doing so. We must learn from the experiences of town centres that have been almost abandoned abroad.

“Accordingly, we should look at the position of councils such as Clare, where the refund rate is only 25%. There is no urgent need to move to that sort of level right away, but I would be keen for Kerry County Councillors to examine this,” he said.

“This year, this was not done despite a proposal from Sinn Féin to do so, due to the ongoing covid-19 related crisis. However with things opening back up, we should not allow our town centres to fall behind,” concluded Deputy Daly.