Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This is a seven and a half page amendment to the Finance Bill, which is coming in on Report Stage. While I support the substance of it I reiterate the point that was made earlier by a number of Deputies about adequate briefing material being provided in advance to enable us to properly assess amendments. It is a point that is well made. I ask that in future it would be accommodated.

This is a very detailed amendment and I have gone through it as best I can with the cross-referencing back to the Principal Act. I support the fact that the Minister is facilitating a refund where land is being developed for residential purposes. That is an issue I raised directly with the Minister. Will the Minister give the House some information on how he arrived at the timeframe in terms of the requirement that construction would commence within a period of 30 months? Some might argue that is tight, perhaps it is not, but will he give us a sense of how he arrived at the timeframe?

The amendment also provides for an apportionment of the reclaim in areas where only some of the land will be developed for residential purposes. Will the Minister clarify the role of land within a residential development that is open space provided for recreational facilities? Is that regarded as residential development? If it is not then the way the provision is structured would discourage the provision of open space and recreational facilities as part of residential developments. That is an important issue.

With regard to the issue of the clawback provision set out within the amendment, the amendment provides for a scenario where residential development specified in a commencement notice is not completed within a period of two years after the date of the sending by a building control authority of an acknowledgement in respect of that notice. Major developments can take longer than two years to complete. Small and medium-sized builders secure much of the funding available to complete the work all at once. Will the Minister address the point about the clawback and the two-year provision? Under the clawback provision, less than 75% of the total surface area of the land in question must be occupied by dwelling units. Alternatively, the gross floor space of dwelling units must amount to at least 75% of the total surface area of that land. There needs to be clarity on whether open spaces required by the planning permission are included or excluded from the 25% calculation. Will gardens be included or excluded?

On the reclaim of 4%, that is, the differential between the two points. It is made clear in the amendment that it can be made through the Revenue online service as soon as construction operations have commenced. However, there is no indication of when the refund will actually be made. If this is not set out in the legislation, then at least there should be a requirement, provided everything is in order and all of the appropriate documentation has been provided to the satisfaction of the Revenue, that there would be a refund within a defined period of 30 months.

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