Ms Claragh Mulhern:

For RZLT, that is the tax that will apply. The land has been determined to be appropriate for residential use, but as the Deputy mentioned, the next layer of assessment happens at the development management stage. There may be particular reasons why development is refused but the underlying principle of residential development is still acceptable, so the tax will continue to apply.

We were very careful in designing that measure. The whole purpose of it is to try to activate land to come forward for development for housing purposes as quickly as possible. Submitting an application is not enough to get one out of the tax loop. It is only when someone gets permission and then starts to build it that he or she can abate his or her liability.

The same principle to zoning applies here. A decision has been taken by the planning authority to zone that land for residential use. The valuation is looking at what is the difference – to go back to the Deputy’s example – between agricultural use versus the value of the land with a residential zoning, but not relating to the details of any specific grant of planning permission. It is just the principle of a residential zoning and what that might entail in terms of its market valuation. It is only at the later development management stage at the point of assessing the planning application that the extra level of detail happens. At that point, the applicants have to pay the tax when they are looking to implement the planning permission. For this, they do not have to pay it until they are developing out their consent for permission. In that case, if it had been refused, they would not have to pay this.