Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 16 May 2023
Joint Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government
General Scheme of the Land Value Sharing and Urban Development Zones Bill 2022: Discussion (Resumed)
Mr. Philip Jones:
My recollection is that it was brought in around 2008, and then we had a crash, and the troika. I seem to recall the then Minister for Finance, when the Government changed, got rid of it very quickly. Why did he get rid of it? Maybe the troika asked him to get rid of it, or maybe he felt, at the time, that this was holding up development and was a disincentive to development, when the attitude was, "let us try to get any development". We all know how that led to vulture funds and all the rest of it. I am not sure there was any rational analysis as to why it was taken out.