Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The residential zoned land tax was introduced by means of the Finance Act in order to activate land for development and thereby increase housing supply. The rate of the tax is 3% of the annual market value of the land. The Irish Farmers Association, IFA, and the Irish Rural Association have strongly opposed land that currently forms an integral part of existing farm operations being subject to the residential zoned land tax. Irish farm families, often spanning multiple generations, are private landowners who utilise land for food production. They have not caused or influenced the housing crisis. They are not builders, they are not speculators and they are not developers who are withholding land from being developed for residential purposes. They should be exempt from this tax, as they were from the vacant sites levy, that is, the predecessor to the residential zoned land tax.

At present, there is exemption for farmed land within these zones. If applicable, however, a person can challenge the inclusion of such land to his or her local authority. It does not make sense to go after a family unit that is farming land. Such land may be on the edge of a town or a village and it might be deemed to be suitable for housing. However, those people did not develop that land during the boom when they may have been offered large sums of money to do so. I know of land that is available in towns and villages, including Killarney, where people are farming. They are milking cows and they want to continue to do so. These people are not developers or speculators and they cannot be accused of hoarding land. They are utilising every blade of grass. Surely be to God, their case should be looked at and their land should be considered to be exempt. Failure to deal with this matter properly will be detrimental to their family farm operations.

Recently, a family from Killorglin visited me at my clinic. They own land on the edge of Killorglin town. Anyone could look at the land and say that it is very valuable and that it would be very profitable if they were to sell it and cash in their chips. They do not want to do that. They are farming the land. All they want is to be left alone. If this tax were to be imposed on them, it would cost them €30,000 per year. They do not make €30,000 from their farming operation. They are just getting by; they are getting on with life and making a living. They not looking for anything from the State, but they do not want to be penalised by it for just getting on with their lives. Will the Taoiseach look at this again and ensure that we do not put these farmers out of existence at a time when they should be left alone and encouraged to make a living for themselves? That is all they want.

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