Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the committee for allowing me to come in now as I have another engagement to attend. Regarding local authorities with zoned lands, infrastructure for them is non-existent in County Limerick. The lands are zoned under local area plans and the residential zoned land tax is coming in, yet in some cases there is no infrastructure in those towns or villages where the zoned land is located. I had an update from Uisce Éireann on upgrading infrastructure in certain towns and villages around County Limerick. Some of the work is going out to 2030 and it will only investigate, not upgrade any of the infrastructure. That means the zoned lands I am talking about in County Limerick cannot be built on because of infrastructure. There is no forward plan for infrastructure there. It seems those lands will come under the residential zone tax. On planning and zones, will lands zoned without adequate infrastructure or a plan for investment in infrastructure be excluded from land zone taxes? The Land Development Agency, LDA, has issued projections for Limerick. It is examining projects within a 15-minute radius of Limerick city, which excludes two thirds of Limerick county. Outside of that 15-minute radius, there are probably only two towns in County Limerick with room for expansion from a housing perspective, which takes out more than half of County Limerick because of the lack of investment in infrastructure. In respect of the formation of residential zoned lands, has the Department developed a basis as to how much of that land can be developed under local area plans in the first place, either for County Limerick or nationally?