Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We learned during statements on child homelessness last week that almost 10,000 people, including some 4,000 children, were homeless in May 2018. Members are aware that that is the tip of the iceberg because the number of hidden homeless is not recorded. I have repeatedly highlighted the situation in that regard in Dublin Bay North, the worst-affected constituency in Ireland. The suffering of homeless citizens and those on housing lists constantly shows that legislation such as that proposed by Deputy Wallace has been needed for many decades.

The Bill would be a powerful deterrent to land hoarding and I commend my colleague, Deputy Mick Wallace, and his staff on bringing it forward. The Urban Regeneration and Housing (Amendment) Bill 2018 was introduced on 21 June and will amend Part 2 of the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 which provides for the vacant site levy and related matters. The vacant site levy, which is to be charged from 1 January 2019, was originally set at 3% but had a large number of loopholes which enabled developers to reduce the amount of levies owed or appeal the levy. Deputy Wallace eloquently explained the farcical nature of the appeals system on this morning's "Morning Ireland" radio programme. Section 11 of the Bill will increase the vacant site levy to 25% of the market value of the site and remove the ridiculous exemptions that made a mockery of the levy in the first place. Three of the four grounds of appeal will also be removed.

As Deputy Wallace rightly pointed out, the Kenny report was published in 1973 and followed two years of committee discussion during which ten or 12 possible approaches to the problem were considered because the price of land in Dublin had risen by approximately 500% in the seven or eight years prior to 1971. It recommended that sites be acquired by local authorities for 25% more than the site's agricultural value but that recommendation has been ignored by 13 consecutive Governments. Had the report's recommendations been adopted it is likely that we could have avoided some of the boom time house and land price rises and inevitable bust and crash. In 2004, pre-bust and mid-boom times, the All-Party Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution stated that the Kenny report recommendations could have been adopted and that a constitutional challenge to such recommendations would have been decided in favour of the public interest. It is striking that that has never been put to a constitutional test. It beggars belief that these issues around land hoarding and stockpiling have bedevilled our nation for more than six decades but the Government still refuses to address them.

It was yesterday revealed that only 6% of local authority owned land is on the councils' vacant site registers and that Dublin City Council, DCC, is due to fine itself approximately €2 million as a result. Its 21 vacant sites listed on the register could hold almost 2,000 homes and include locations in Ballymun, Inchicore, East Wall, flat complexes and areas in my constituency. I agree with Mr. Mel Reynolds, a distinguished housing policy analyst and architect, who stated that a significant dent could be made in our homeless figures if these sites were developed. He also expressed concern at the message the small number of registered council vacant sites is sending to private developers.

Of course, land hoarding, landbanking and speculating on prices of homes and land have been a deliberate Fine Gael policy and follow on from the approach of its Fianna Fáil colleague when it was in government. Budget 2012 introduced a seven-year relief on capital gains tax, CGT, purportedly to incentivise the market. Section 604A, inserted into the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 by the Finance Act 2012, provided CGT relief for properties acquired during the period from 7 December 2011 to 31 December 2014. After we got into a disastrous housing situation, the 2015 legislation was brought in. As Tom Healy, director of the Nevin Economic Research Institute, NERI, rightly stated last year, land continues to be the dominant factor of production and determining economic interest, while high finance and three-bedroom semis have replaced cattle as significant commodities of interest.

I warmly commend the Bill and hope it will be passed by the House.

See this speech in context