A childminder has said she is considering leaving the profession after her home was recently assessed for commercial rates.
Margaret Donohoe, from Newbridge, Co Kildare, said she received an email from Tailte Éireann in October to say an evaluator would be out to assess her property.
Tailte Éireann is a State agency responsible for property registrations, property valuation and national mapping services.
Commercial rates are property-based charges levied on commercial and industrial properties, providing a source of funding for local authorities.
RM Block
Ms Donohoe looks after six children and has worked as a childminder for 10 years, having previously worked in a creche for 15 years.
“I said to the evaluator, ‘I thought we were exempt from commercial rates’ and he said, ‘not any more’. He said we were always a grey area, but that we’re not a grey area any more,” she said.
Ms Donohoe said she told the evaluator there must be a mistake but was told that ‘if you make profit from a business in your home, you must pay rates’.
She said the evaluator just measured her playroom and that she has yet to receive an evaluation cost.
“I keep checking my emails every day, hoping I’ll get something to say, ‘we’ve made a mistake’,” she said.
“My problem is, even if it is a couple of hundred euros, the way our Government is, they increase everything. Say it was €300 for next year, what will it be going forward – €500 or €600? Like the way my property tax went up this year. I just really don’t want to be paying another bill, things are so hard at the minute.”
Ms Donohoe said she knows of other childminders who would “close their doors” if they had to pay commercial rates.
“We don’t make a whole lot of money in childminding,” she said. “We pay a property tax, that should cover it. I reached out to a few TDs in Kildare and they said we were not aware that childminders had to pay rates. Even the TDs didn’t know.”
Mairead Hurley, head of childminding services at Childminding Ireland, said it was the first time she had come across a childminder being assessed to pay commercial rates on their home.
However, she said a directive was circulated to city/county childcare committees last summer, which stated that unless early years providers were operating not-for-profit, they are deemed liable for rates.
“I would say the vast majority of childminders have no idea this is coming because there has been no national campaign to advertise it,” said Ms Hurley.
“It’s not anywhere obvious that this is coming with no appreciation for the unintended consequences.”
Ms Hurley said the organisation has written to Tailte Éireann seeking clarification on childminders and commercial rates.
The Department of Children said that under the amended Valuation Act 2001, all property is ratable unless it falls into one of the exempted categories listed in the Act.
It said the only provision that “expressly exempts childcare” is set out in paragraph 22 of schedule 4, which provides for exemption of early childhood care and education facilities operating on a not-for-profit basis.
“As such, there is no general exemption for childminding services,” it said.
“In determining rates all properties are examined on their individual merits. Individual valuation and the calculation of rates are a matter for Tailte Éireann and the local authorities respectively, while the underpinning legislation falls under the remit of the Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government.”
The Department of Housing said determinations made in respect of schedules 3 and 4 of the Valuation Acts is solely a matter for Tailte Éireann, “which is independent in the exercise of its functions”.
Tailte Éireann did not respond to queries.
