Report of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group

2009 found that local authorities were not fully recouping this cost, despite
Government policy to recover the cost of water services from non-domestic
users. Moving to full cost recovery in this area would provide local
authorities with an additional income of €58 million per year.
13.1.6 Service indicator data also indicate that some local authorities have been
experiencing significant difficulties with collecting water charges from the
non-domestic sector, with almost half of water charges being unpaid across
all local authorities. This suggests the need for a more simplified approach
to penalties for non-payment as suggested in section 13.3.
13.1.7 The Group recommends that there needs to be a greater emphasis by local
authorities on billing and collection of non-domestic water charges. There is
also a strong case of this function to be managed on a shared service or
outsourced basis.
Waste Charges
13.1.8 The Group also supports greater efforts to secure further cost recovery in
waste collection. This view was also expressed by the Commission on
Taxation, although it declined to put an estimate on the saving that could be
achieved for local authorities in this area, as it considered any estimate
subject to change if local authorities continued to cede waste collection to
the private sector. However, the Group does recommend that greater cost
recovery in waste collection be pursued by those individual local authorities
that continue to be involved in this activity.
Planning Fees
13.1.9 The Group believes that greater cost recovery should be reflected in the
level of planning fees. Planning fees are set by central government, but
only cover a fraction of the cost of processing planning applications. The
current planning application fee for the construction of a single house is €65,
while the current average cost of processing a planning application for a
single house is over 7 times the amount of the fee. Other fees apply to
other categories of development. The Department of the Environment,
Heritage and Local Government estimates that when the full costs of the
planning function provided by local authorities are taken into account, the
average cost of processing a planning application exceeds the average fee
income by more than €1,500. This shortfall is being met through the
general resources of local authorities.
13.1.10 The Commission on Taxation report also noted that planning fees are
significantly lower than they are in other European countries, and the
Commission proposed increased charges and an end to maximum fees for
large developments. Unlike other jurisdictions, planning fees in Ireland are
not based on the actual costs of service provision. For example, the current
fee of €65 for the construction of a single house in Ireland compares with a
fee of €369 in England, €404 in Scotland and €765 in Northern Ireland.
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