Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak in support of this amendment. I have also submitted amendments on some topics in the Bill, which will be dealt with later. I will also ask about two specific parts of the Bill. On the issue of land value sharing tax, when we engaged with the Department on this, we were told it might be incorporated into this Bill.

Clearly, that did not happen. What are the plans and timelines around that? There have been media reports stating that lobbying has meant it is delayed. I do not know where those reports come from. Will the Minister of State comment on the delays and what the issues are with that?

Regarding reform of the compulsory purchase order power, from my read of the Bill – as I said, I have a later amendment on this later – there are not significant changes between this Bill and previous legislation. The Law Reform Commission report is ready-made and includes expert recommendations. They did the work on how to improve it. We all know from our interactions with local authorities that the CPO process can be very cumbersome and very long to the point that even when it would be useful to use a CPO process, because it is so long and cumbersome, local authorities can be reluctant to use it. That can then have knock-on impacts on delivering key pieces of infrastructure or housing. As an area we could get right that could really help with the delivery of infrastructure and much-needed housing, getting the CPO process reformed seems to be eminently sensible. Given that all that work has gone into the Law Reform Commission report, how come its proposals have not been incorporated into the Bill? Was it looked at? If not, will it be looked at? Could it be looked at before Report Stage? What is the thinking on that?