Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The issue is that the Housing for All strategy includes an action for the Department of Finance to collect data on vacancy with a view to introducing a vacant property tax. That has been our position. As the Deputy knows, local property tax, LPT, returns include questions such as whether a property is vacant and the reason for the vacancy if the period vacancy if the period of vacancy exceeds 12 months. The aim was to provide an indicative profile of vacant residential properties which will help to inform policy. Revenue has completed preliminary analysis of the LPT returns received to date. This has been shared with the Department of Finance. It suggests that levels of vacancy are low across all counties. Revenue will publishing a profile of the occupancy data from the LPT returns in due course.

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