David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I fully support everything the Minister of State has said in terms of what should happen. Of course, those lands should be used to provide housing. The problem is that on the one hand the Government is applying this levy on local authorities because they are not building housing. However, the reality is that local authorities need funding to build housing and they get that funding from the State. The local authorities would argue that if the Government is going to force them to pay the levy but will not give them the money to building housing, really it is just taking more money back from local authorities or forcing them to sell the land.

If local authorities have land that is serviced and could be used for housing, they should make an application for funding from the State. What happens if that application is turned down? In that case, on the one hand the State is refusing to provide money to the local authority, while on the other it is imposing a levy on the local authority for not building housing. That is the concern we have. Even if this goes through, I hope that common sense will prevail and the State will provide the funding to build the housing. We all want the same outcome and it is just a matter of getting that.