Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I find the Minister of State's argument irrational. He said people will not know whether their sites are eligible for the levy. They should first acknowledge their ownership and let the State decide whether they are eligible for the levy. I have argued that every site should be eligible and disagree with all the loopholes. A small percentage of those who own land banks will be caught. It has slowly dawned on me that this Bill is not designed to deal with land-banking. The Minister of State referred to another Bill in the autumn, but this is a missed opportunity to deal with land-banking, which is clearly not the aim of the Bill. He said its aim was to stimulate activity, but because NAMA has sold assets for less than half of what they cost to build, it will be difficult to get the private sector involved. I know people with development land that would love to build on it because they want to create work, be back in business and employ people who were loyal to them for years, but they cannot access funding because they cannot compete in view of the asset prices that have prevailed for the past couple of years. Apartments were sold in 2014 for less than half of what it cost to build them. I do not know how the Bill will stimulate activity. I do not accept the logic that the Minister of State thinks it is unworkable to ask the owners of vacant sites to state that they own them. That is not rational.

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