Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is members of local authorities. This is one of the things that needs to be fully confirmed as to how it will work because the zoning process for land at present, as the Deputy well knows, takes some time to do. We will need to have a faster process for managing zoning appeals. To be very explicit about that point, because it was an important reminder from my colleague, a landowner will have the right to appeal the zoning status of the land.

It would then be open to the local authority to make a final view on that. I anticipate this will be a pretty active area over the next 12 to 18 months, which is another reason a run-in period is needed.

On the Deputy's question on what would happen if the land is sold, whoever owns that land would pay the tax each May. To use the Deputy's example, if the land is sold, the new owner would pay the tax the following May. It is an annual recurring charge.

Regarding the Deputy’s question on how we will deem if it is reasonable for land to be serviceable, that will depend on the local authority's evaluation of it taking account of the proximity of the land to infrastructure or how likely it is to be serviced in the near future. That is the reason these maps will be fundamental. We will rely on the local authority evaluation of that, in turn, for the Revenue Commissioners to levy the tax.

The Deputy asked about a scenario where land is omitted on a map but the Revenue Commissioners deem it should be subject to the tax. The maps would be reviewed each year once the tax becomes operational after the run-in period and then at each point in the year, the Revenue Commissioners would have the ability to recommend or note land that should be covered by the tax.