Results 8,621-8,640 of 35,563 for speaker:Pearse Doherty

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: I have a final question on this entire subject. Will the Minister talk me through a working example of this? I am not referring to the process of doing the maps, as that is clear in the legislation. To take the example of my county of Donegal, there are well established towns but also small villages, which would have local area maps. Will all the sites in all those villages be captured?...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Regardless of the housing need in that area.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: How could a local authority do that? I am thinking of villages in rural Ireland and within the control points, they are zoned for mixed use or residential purposes. There would not be a density of development in those villages. What would be exempt then would the curtilage of one's home. The Minister said he would not be taxing where a house could not be built. However, any other fields...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Some of the land will be capable of that. Theoretically, if every single vacant site in a village were to be developed, there would not be the service capacity required for sewerage services or possibly water services, but there would be the capacity to develop further. This is new legislation and it is important to have that mapped out. The Minister mentioned the Department has done an...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The run-in period is to provide for awareness of this. The reality is that if a town is zoned for housing, it would be rare if a piece of land in the centre of that town would be unzoned. Further questions arise on this issue. We must examine the issue of housing needs. The same tax will be applied to a person in a village in a rural community where there is a housing need as will be...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The concern I have is that maps will be concluded but the tax will not apply for a period after that. There must be a process to provide for the local authorities to become familiar with that. More awareness of this will be highlighted by this committee. Can the Department provide us with the list of towns and villages across the State to which this tax will apply?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: It must have a local area plan. Let me check the criteria. Not every town and village has a local area plan.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Yes. Every defined town and village under county development plans would fall under this measure regardless of whether they have a local area plan.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Okay.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister mentioned the broad base for the local property tax. There were deferrals and so on for people on low incomes. The Government wants to target land hoarders with this tax but given the broad nature of it and the fact that every village and town will be included, it may apply to people with very low incomes who might have a site that was left to them. There is no doubt that they...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: -----regardless of whether they can pay it?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The point of this tax is not to target the poor woman of rural Ireland who was left a house or a piece of land. This is about land hoarders who are hoarding land in areas of acute need. I am not going to have that argument with the Minister again.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: I move amendment No. 164: In page 212, after line 29, to insert the following: “Report on the introduction of a vacant property tax 84.The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on the introduction of a vacant property tax, the prevalence of vacant residential properties across the State, and options for...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: It has not been discussed with amendment No. 162.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Yes, but we did not discuss amendment No. 162.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: Same to the Vice Chairman.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: This is amendment No. 164, which the Vice Chairman has said was discussed with amendment No. 162. Is that correct?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The grouping fell, because the individual was not here-----

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: The Vice Chairman is right on all of those points. We are looking for a report on the vacant property tax. The Government's Housing for All plan kicks the can down the road for another year on vacant property tax. At the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage in September, Department of Finance officials cited analysis by GeoDirectory which showed that in quarter 2 of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Finance Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (18 Nov 2021)

Pearse Doherty: When I put this forward in 2018, the Minister rejected the idea of a vacant property tax and he cited the Indecon report which recommended against a vacant property tax. Does he now believe he was wrong in that?