Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

An exemption from the local property tax applies to developments listed in the schedule to the Finance (Local Property Tax) Regulations 2013. The list of unfinished housing developments eligible for the exemption was compiled by local authorities utilising the categorisation employed for the purposes of the national housing survey of 2012. The survey was carried out over the course of the summer of 2012 by the Department in conjunction with local authorities and the Housing Agency.

The categorisation methodology for the survey was different from that used in 2011 which provided the basis for the waiver from the household charge. This earlier categorisation related largely to the level of on-site activity at the time the 2011 survey was carried out and had less to do with the physical character of a development. The 2012 survey was based purely and objectively on the actual state of completion of a development, and established there were 1,700 unfinished developments, with 1,100 of them deemed to be in a seriously problematic condition. This represents a 37% reduction in unfinished developments since 2010. Only developments deemed by local authorities to be in a seriously problematic condition, regardless of whether a developer was on or off site, were included in the local property tax regulations. For the purposes of preparing the final list of developments to which the exemption from the local property tax would apply, local authorities were asked by the Department to confirm or update the then existing list of estates in a seriously problematic condition, as appropriate.

See this speech in context