Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Canney for raising this matter. In many ways it speaks to the issue we have been discussing for the past half an hour. Everyone agrees there is a housing crisis and we face a huge challenge to deliver homes all over the country. However, as soon as something is proposed that is an imposition on somebody, in some cases a major imposition, then objections are raised, progress is stalled and barriers are put in the way. That is the fundamental choice we face as a country.

On this issue, when locally elected members agree on their development plan and decide, having taken advice on board, that a land bank is suitable and appropriate for development and is situated in an area where land is serviced and close to amenities and so on, it is to be expected that the Government will seek to ensure that, wherever possible, that land bank is developed in accordance with the locally adopted county development plan. Having said that, there is of course a mechanism for this tax to be avoided.

As the Deputy knows, the mapping process is now at an advanced stage. It involves public notification of draft and supplemental maps with a related national and local communications campaign which is under way. Landowners and interested parties may make submissions to the local authority. Landowners can appeal the decision of the local authority to retain their land on the map to An Bord Pleanála. As a once-off provision during 2022 and 2023, landowners may also request the local authority to rezone their land to remove it from the scope of the tax. It is open to anyone who is directly affected by this tax that comes into being in 2024 to have their land bank removed from the scope of the tax.

We cannot have it every way. People cannot have their land zoned and keep the zoning into the future while, at the same time, avoid the tax that is intended to stimulate supply. It goes back to the heart of the issue we have been discussing for the past 30 minutes or so because there has been a long build-up to this measure. As Members know, it was legislated for in the Finance Act 2021. The tax measure will be levied at 3% of the market value of the zoned land. The local authorities have gone through an extensive mapping process at this point. In regard to land in agricultural use specifically, only farming land which is zoned solely or primarily for residential purposes will be in scope. Agricultural land zoned for a mixture of uses, including residential, is not in scope as farming is a trade or profession benefiting from an exemption in the legislation. In that respect and in regard to the provision that is there, a facility is being provided for a proposal to be made for land to be dezoned, thereby completely taking a land bank out of this particular new tax. We believe that this is a fair and proportionate intervention by the State given the scale of the challenge we face to bring newly zoned land to the market whereby homes can be built for our people.

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