S.I. No. 146/2014 - Local Government Reform Act 2014 (Commencement of Certain Provisions) (No. 2) Order 2014.

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 25th March, 2014.

I, PHIL HOGAN, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 1 (22) of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 (No. 1 of 2014) hereby order as follows:

1. This Order may be cited as the Local Government Reform Act 2014 (Commencement of Certain Provisions) (No. 2) Order 2014.

2. In this Order “Act of 2014” means the Local Government Reform Act 2014 (No. 1 of 2014).

3. The 24th day of March 2014 is appointed as the day on which the following provisions of the Act of 2014 come into operation:

(a) section 5(4) and Part 2 of Schedule 2 as they apply to the amendment as respects the definition of ‘local authority concerned’ in section 2(1) of the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act 1999 (No. 7 of 1999);

(b) section 5(8) and Part 6 of Schedule 2 as they apply to the amendments as respects-

(i) section 71 of the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act 1838 ,

(ii) section 19 of the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act 1849 , and

(iii) section 15 of, and Schedules 3 and 4 to the Valuation Act 2001 (No. 13 of 2001);

(c) sections 11 and 27.

4. The 1st day of July 2014 is appointed as the day on which section 32 of the Act of 2014 comes into operation.

GIVEN under my Official Seal,

20 March 2014.

PHIL HOGAN,

Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Instrument and does not purport to be a legal interpretation).

This order commences a number of amendments in Part 2 and Part 6 of Schedule 2 of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 . The amendment to the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act 1999 is a technical amendment relating to the holding of a plebiscite on the matter of establishing an office of directly elected mayor for Dublin. The impact of the amendments to the Valuation Act 2001 is that the Valuation Office is no longer required to value certain State properties while the amendments to the Poor Relief (Ireland) Acts 1838 and 1849 remove the liability currently placed on a subsequent occupier for up to two years of rates outstanding from the previous occupier.

Section 11 of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 provides for arrangements regarding the preparation, deposit, evidential status and display of new maps for the amalgamated local authority areas in Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford and section 27 authorises existing local authorities and their successors to do anything necessary to facilitate implementation or secure the operation of any provision of the 2014 Act prior to or following commencement.

The commencement of section 32 of the 2014 Act provides a new duty on owners of relevant properties to notify the local authority of a transfer of interest in the property where the transfer results in a change in the occupier liable for commercial rates on that property. The section also creates a new requirement that all outstanding rates liabilities must be discharged at the date of the transfer of the property or interest in the property. Associated penalties for non-compliance are also included.