Michael Kitt (Fianna Fail)

I join the call for a debate on the question of levies on the building of new houses. In today's newspaper I read of a proposal to impose levies amounting to €28,000 on stand-alone properties. Galway County Council has confirmed that there are proposals for a levy of between €5,000 and €8,000.

Irrespective of the amount of the levies, we should debate this issue. Levies and development charges have been introduced with no explanation as to the services being provided, apart from water, roads, sewerage and other such amenities. When we debated the issue of bin charges, reference was made to paying for a local authority service. In the case of building levies, however, people do not see what service they are paying for. It is important to debate this issue when levies have risen to the present level.