Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Did Dr. Doorley have her hand up? No. What I love about committees is that we can tease things out and listen to different points of view. I had to write down my questions on the ESRI opening statement to keep myself in check because there were so many. In that statement, it was noted that the commission has set out that a site value tax could also accommodate the principle of a zoned land tax. That is very important. I am interested in hearing the witnesses' views on that. We have all seen evidence of swathes of land that have been zoned, sometimes for years, on which there has been no development. I have seen them in Galway. A person who is a bit cynical - although I am not saying I am - might say that it was never planned to develop some of this land and that it was only zoned to increase the asset value in an effort to engage in land banking. Could a site value tax or zoned land tax address this? If such a tax were to be designed, would a graduated tax that increased further the longer the land was allowed to sit idle, such as has been introduced in other countries, be the right way to incentivise usage?