Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The levy will bring in approximately €10 million on the sites the Minister mentioned because it was 3% of approximately €300 million and it will be 7% in the following year. As he knows, my Bill proposes a levy of 25% which would really encourage them not to bank land.

Mel Reynolds has pointed out that in Dublin alone it could bring in close to €300 million in one year if all the sites are tapped into in terms of a levy. We could then talk about bringing down the price of housing. A girl telephoned me at the weekend wondering if she should buy a three bedroom house more than 30 km from here for €330,000. That is €330,000 for a three bedroom house. I can tell the Minister the cost of such a house is half that amount on mainland Europe. He will not be able to bring down the price of housing if he does not tackle land banking. His site levy is not workable. It will not make a difference. There are major concerns about the definition of what even constitutes a vacant site. I gave some examples at the committee.

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