Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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It is nonsensical to expect the local authority to levy itself. Let us be clear: where a housing authority has land, it will want to use it. There is all this palaver about devolving powers to local authorities, but in this Bill we are cutting a stick and handing it to them to beat themselves with it. The money to pay the levy will not drop out of the sky; it will come from rates in the administrative area of the local authority. That is the last thing people in the community will want. They will want a solution. The 949 local councillors will respond to pressure from the people to bring the land into use. Local councillors, regardless of political persuasion, are very responsive to local pressure and local needs

There are good things in the Bill, but some aspects of Part 5 needs to be revised. The site levy is a good idea. I brought forward a derelict sites Bill last year because of the urgent need to address the issue, but this Bill is taking the wrong direction. There is no compelling case for it. It is Big Brother handing a stick to a weak local authority. Rather than trying to strengthen and empower the local authority, the Government is giving it a stick with which to beat itself. It is the ratepayers in the area who will pay for the beating. I think that is terrible.