David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 6, line 29, after “land” where it secondly occurs to insert “not owned by a local authority or publicly owned housing body”.

As the Minister of State will know from the Second Stage contributions Sinn Féin Members made, we support the principle of the Bill regarding a vacant site levy and some other elements of the Bill. However, we feel the vacant site levy could be stronger and we do not support elements of Part 5.

Amendment No. 1 seeks to exclude local authorities from the vacant site levy. If the Government wants to force local authorities to pay a levy on undeveloped lands, it should on the other hand empower and enable them to build housing on these lands in the first place. Local authorities are not being given the funding to build on the land. If this were to go through and the levies were imposed on local authority land, it could force some local authorities to sell the land rather than pay the levy. That would create difficulties with social housing. One wonders if that is something the Government wants to do. In reality, the vast majority of people's housing needs are being met through the private rental sector anyway; there is very little evidence of local authority build. Even though the Government has committed to some extra developments in coming years, it is very little in comparison with what has been built in the past. The amendment seeks to exclude local authorities from the vacant site levy.