The Gazette 1971

OBITUARY Mr. Hugh O'Donnell, solicitor, died in the Meath Hospital, Dublin, in June 1971. Mr. O'Donnell was admitted in Michaelmas Term, 1915, and had prac- tised at 29 Dublin Street, Garlow. Mr. Patrick O'Flynn, solicitor, died in Galway on 1st June 1971. Mr. O'Flynn was admitted in Trinity Term, 1934, and practised at 6 St. Francis Street, Galway.

Captain Thomas F. McKeever died in the Hospital of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, Drogheda, on 16th June 1971. Captain McKeever was admitted in Trinity Term, 19??, and had been senior partner of Messrs McKeever & Son who practised in 6 Foster Place, Dublin, and in Drogheda, Co. Louth.

LEGISLATION

LOCAL GOVERNMENT (RATEABILITY OF RENTS) (ABOLITION) BILL, 1971 The main purpose of the Bill is to terminate the rating of certain rents, under the system known as the rating of half rents, with effect from the 1st April 1971. Under the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1849, a person receiving rent from property, the occupier of which was exempt from normal rating because of its being used for public, scientific or charitable purposes, was to be rated on a valuation equal to half of the rent. At that time rates were, in effect, shared by the owner and occupier of rented property and the provision in the 1849 Act ensured that the owner would still be liable for his share of the rates where the occupier secured exemption by reason of his occupying the property for public, scientific or charitable purposes.

current year the extra cost to the Exchequer will come to approximately £30,000. This sum will, of course, go to the local authorities. Some authorities themselves will have to face a slight additional charge also in respect of rates on half-rents which will not be offset by the State. Despite the fact that the proposal will involve these relatively small extra charges on public funds, the proposal is a sound one in that it removes an obvious anomaly in the rating system, one that can involve injustice and can be dealt with without affecting the overall rating system which must remain. The abolition of the half-rent system was recommended by the inter-departmental committee on local finance and taxation in their second interim report. The rating system as a whole will be dealt with in the forthcoming White Paper on local finance. Section 1 of the Bill, which removes the original liability of persons to be rated on rents received by them from property which is otherwise exempt from rating, taken together with Section 3, which provides for the repeal of the various legislative provisions relating to the rating of rents set out in the Schedule, terminates the system of half-rent rating. The fraction of the rent on which rates are leviable was reduced below the original one-half by permanent legislation in relation to affected property in areas other than county health districts. In the case of county health districts the reduction—from one-half to one- quarter of the rent—was continued in temporary legis- lation which expired on the 31st March 1970. The reduction was continued administratively in 1970-71; Section 2 of the Bill provides for the extension of the relevant statutory provisions in respect of that year. Mr. Allan sued the partners of a dissolved firm of demolition contractors who had deposited the rubble on the road — John Scott, of Strathmartine Road, and Joseph Hughes, Ballantrae Place, both of Dundee, claiming £60,000. Giving judgement, Lord Stott said it was plain from the evidence that the main share of the blame lay with the taxi driver. But he had died before the action could be raised against him and he had no estate or repres- entative who could be sued. For that reason, Mr. Allan had to seek redress against the contractors. 107

In modern times, when rates are ordinarily a charge on the occupation of property, the levying of rates under the half rent system on the owner of property on the basis of a fraction of the rent he receives is anom- alous. Furthermore, the system may give rise to hard- ship in individual cases as it may result in an owner paying more in rates than he receives in rent. The pur- pose of the legislation, therefore, is to discontinue the system of half-rent rating altogether from the current financial year. The exemption from rates of the occu- piers of property is not affected in any way. The State, as occupier of property subject to half- rents, is affected by the proposal. The State pays a bounty-in-lieu of rates to the local authority in respect of premises it occupies. Where the owner of State property is subject to rates on the "half-rent", the State hounty-in-lieu of rates is reduced by the amount which the owner pays in rates. The State bounty-in-lieu of rates must now be increased to offset the amount the owner will no longer pay. It is estimated that in the

£27,000 for Paralysed Youth A Dundee man who sustained a broken neck and paralysis in all limbs was awarded £27,500 in the Court of Sessions in Edinburgh yesterday. It is believed to be the largest award made in Scotland for personal injuries.

Mr. Thomas Allan, 19, of Clement Park Road, Dundee, who gave his evidence from a wheelchair, said he was driving a scooter in Dundee when a taxi emerged from a garage. Because of a heap of rubble blocking half the width of the road, a collision with . the taxi was inevitable.