Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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The development levy waiver was a powerful initiative introduced by the Government to bolster housing supply and ensure a pipeline of housing delivery. We saw some of our largest commencement numbers ever last year, with more than 60,000 homes commenced, 9% of which were first-time, one-off homes.

I come from and represent a rural constituency. I have a major concern with regard to couples or individuals buildings homes in rural areas ending up paying a development contribution to their local authorities. I raised this matter earlier with the Taoiseach. While people are quite happy to pay their for water and ESB connections, paying a development contribution to the council when they live in a rural area seems quite counterintuitive because they do not get lighting, sewerage facilities or footpaths in return. While it is understandable that councils cannot service everywhere, people need to know exactly where that money goes. At present, it is going into the council’s pot and is used to fund everything else the council does. Ultimately, it does not serve the person who contributes. We need to recognise that there is an unfair burden when it comes to these local contributions, not to mention the fact that people also have to install their own septic tanks and put in place their own infrastructure that they have to maintain and manage, which brings its own costs as well.

In respect of the contribution side of things, that money goes into a pot. It is not seen by the people who build their one-off homes. The people who do that need to be recognised. Multiple constituents have contacted me in the months since the waiver was discontinued because they realise that they now have new bills of somewhere between €5,000 and €10,000 for connection fees and the development contribution. We need to either ring-fence the funding to ensure it goes towards those local facilities or show that it is delivering local amenities as opposed to disappearing into the abyss. People do not feel like it is a fair charge, especially when they have to invest in infrastructure themselves. They do not get the lights or the footpaths.

We need to make it fairer for people who are constructing their own dwelling. While the Government does a good deal of work to put supports in place, such as the first home or help to buy schemes, to ensure that people have a deposit in place, we then take this development contribution on the other side. There is a better way of doing this. It is either a case of ring-fencing the funding or trying to ensure that this charge is not levied against one-off homes, specifically when those who build such homes have to deliver so much infrastructure themselves.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. I am happy to take this matter on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy James Browne. The Deputy made a valid point, and I thank him for raising this matter.

On 25 April 2023, the Government approved additional measures under the Housing for All action plan to incentivise the activation of increased housing supply and to help reduce housing construction costs, including the introduction of temporary time-limited arrangements for the waiving of local authority section 48 development contributions and the refunding of Uisce Éireann water and wastewater connection charges. The Government recognised that further measures needed to be put in place to help address cost and viability with a view to incentivising the activation of a pipeline of new housing commencements and assisting the delivery of supply as quickly as possible. The waiver scheme applied to all permitted residential development including multi-unit developments, self-build houses and one-off houses, as well as student accommodation and sheltered housing.

The scheme initially applied for one year to all permitted residential development that commenced on site between 25 April 2023, which was the date of the Government decision approving the measure, and 24 April 2024, and that are completed no later than 31 December 2025. On 23 April 2024, the Government approved an extension for the waiving of local authority section 48 development contributions in respect of residential developments commenced not later than 31 December 2024 and the refunding of Uisce Éireann water and wastewater connection charges in respect of residential development commenced not later than 30 September 2024. In April 2024, the final date for the completion of development works on qualifying houses under the schemes was extended from 31 December 2025 to 31 December 2026. There are no plans to extend or reintroduce the waiver scheme.

The waiver of local authority development contributions and the refund of Uisce Éireann connection charges directly reduce the upfront cost of construction. These savings, depending on location, represent a meaningful portion of soft costs in budgets. A total of 69,060 homes were commenced in 2024 as against 26,957 in 2022, representing an increase of 156% in comparison with 2022. This is the highest number of commencements on record since the compilation of data on annual residential commencements began to be recorded in 2015. It is likely that the waiver schemes contributed to the increasing level of housing starts post April 2023 in light of the timing of the introduction of those schemes. A certain proportion of planning permissions for housing development that were not being activated have now largely commenced due to this scheme. The time-limited nature of the waiver scheme provided a clear and urgent incentive for developers to act quickly. As already stated, there are no plans to extend the scheme any further.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I am asking about one-off homes for self-builders who are taking on mortgages to build their homes. Let us call a spade a spade: they are contributing to the ultimate completion figures this Government wants to see. We want more units to be delivered. Self-builders make up almost 10% of those numbers on the basis of the commencement figures from last year.

The development levy waiver was a huge success. There were 69,000 commencements in 2024, which is absolutely incredible. Those are the type of numbers we need every year. I am very conscious, however, that the money from the development contribution goes to the councils and self-builders get nothing in return. They do not get footpaths, lighting or investment in their localities. It is unfair on councillors and local authorities that it goes into a pot and gets spent with the rest of the money as opposed to being ring-fenced for what it is for. Even the development contributions relating to housing estates are not ring-fenced for the delivery of footpaths and lighting in towns and villages. There needs to be a wider conversation in this regard.

If possible, I ask for the Minister of State to bring my request to consider the extension of the development levy waiver for one-off homes back to the Minister, Deputy Browne. This move would facilitate young people who are starting out on their journey of home ownership and who are trying to self-build. It would ensure they could do that without an overburdening cost, particularly when they are contributing to our completion figures.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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One-off housing, particularly in rural areas like Roscommon, no more than my own area, is a really important part of housing output. It is important to the vibrancy of rural communities as well. I understand the argument the Deputy is making in respect of how you tie the contribution people are paying directly to a service that is being delivered in return.

I have outlined the position of the Department and the Minister that there will not be any extension to the waiver. Obviously, that benefited one-off housing and multi-unit developments. I thank Deputy Dolan for raising this matter and for putting the argument forward strongly on behalf of his constituents, particularly those young people who are looking to build and do one-off developments, in the context of the impact that development charges have on them. I will certainly relay the argument the Deputy has made to the Department and the Minister. I will ask them to take on board what he said.