Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to send the Minister details of the proposal. It proposes to put the onus on landowners to get themselves put on the register, for them to self-assess and to face a charge on their land when they sell it if they do not self-assess. Minimal change to legislation, whereby the levy is turned into a charge on the land, would be needed to achieve that. Such a system has a lot to recommend it because the present system is simply not working. The purpose of the system is obviously not to generate revenue but it is to make hoarded land available for house building. That is not happening at the moment. If I send him further details of this proposal to put the onus on landowners to register their land, I would ask the Minister to look at them and learn from the success of other schemes in which Revenue has been involved, the non-principal private residence, NPPR, scheme, for example. I am looking for a commitment that the Minister will consider that as a way of achieving what the levy is intended to achieve.

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