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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.
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
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.
£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.
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.
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