Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I raise the issue of the residential zoned land tax and its implications for family farms around the country. Farmers are private landowners. They are not builders. They own the land to farm it and try to make a living from it. They do not hoard it as an investment. The fact that farmers are completely unaware that some of their land is being zoned for residential purposes leaves them in a very precarious predicament. In Killarney, of more than 200 acres of land zoned for residential use, only around ten acres are being built on each year. Some farmers will find themselves paying this tax for the next 20 years until the land is used up.

The way land is being zoned is through a desktop study being done by the local authorities. They are not looking on the ground or talking to owners to see whether the land will become available. In many small rural towns around the country, farmers are farming right up to the town boundaries and beyond. They are now being caught up in this residential tax, even though they are not hoarding land. Their land has been zoned by the local authority without their knowledge or consent. They are fearful that they will be paying tax from money they are trying to eke out of the land in order to stave off something that is beyond their control.

The farming organisations are very concerned about this. More to the point, they have tried to discuss it with different Departments. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage tells them it is an issue for the Revenue Commissioners and the Revenue Commissioners tell them that it is a local authority housing issue. At this stage we need clarity from the Minister and we also need to make sure that no matter what happens, a farmer who is making a living from land, be it zoned for residential development or not, is not liable to a residential tax on the land. It is important we do that and provide a derogation so that farmers do not have to pay the tax.

In places where local area plans are being done, there is zone 1 and zone 2 zoning. Zone 1 is land which is going to be used first and zone 2 is land that will be used when zone 1 is complete. That never happens yet farmers will find themselves in a position where they are paying this unjust tax. I ask the Government to look at this and make it clear, once and for all, that farmers who can produce a herd number and show they are functional farmers on the land will not be liable for any tax. That must be made abundantly clear to all farmers who at this stage are worried sick about what they may face when this tax is brought in.

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