Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not sure which element to answer now as there were a lot of questions. We need to bring vacant sites into use, particularly land that has been zoned for residential use. There is a lot of that in Dublin, some of it with full planning permission as well as zoning. We took advice on how soon we could introduce a vacant site levy and we are proceeding with that. If I could do it earlier, in a legally sound way, I would do so. Throughout 2017 local authorities will put together a register of vacant sites and in 2018 this register will be the basis for levies - effectively fines - for inactivity on sites in 2019.

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