Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I agree with the previous Senator on Lebanon. I have family living in Beirut. What a beautiful place it is. Our thoughts must be with the whole region and on the conflicts there.

Let us be mindful of the passing of two great former councillors who served in local government: Brian Bermingham of Cork and Rainsford Hendy, who happens to be related to me. They were Fine Gael councillors. Both were distinguished councillors and I wanted to acknowledge that fact and say we are thinking of their families at this sad time for them.

I call for a debate on the residential zoned land tax, which is a very controversial tax. We all know we need to activate more land for housing. We also know the Government has, or aspires to have, a policy on land use.Over the summer, there have been conflicting views from the Minister for Finance, the Minister for local government and the Minister for agriculture on the residential zoned land tax. We cannot have a situation where there is a land tax on lands in active agricultural use, be it agriculture in its purest form, horticulture or forestry. We need clarity on this issue. Farmers who farm land that is zoned for agriculture must be encouraged. One of our key objectives is to increase our production of agricultural produce, in particular crops. I am calling for a debate on the residential tax. Farmers want to be on the right side of Revenue and it will be Revenue and no one else collecting this tax. There have been mixed messages from the three Government parties about what they want to do. I call for a frank and honest discussion about where this tax is going.

I draw Members’ attention to Parliamentary Question No. 388 of 18 September, submitted for written reply by Deputy Connolly. That reply, which was delivered to me today, raises a number of questions about this matter. I saw accompanying correspondence, according to which the Ministers for agriculture and Finance were not in a position to answer. The question asked about the quantum of land within the scope of the residential property tax. No one seems to know the quantum. This relates to another issue, in that no one seems to know how much land in the country is mapped and zoned for agriculture. The common response is that it is a matter for local government. If we want land use strategies and policies, though, then we need to get the data and facts. Until such time as we do, we should not proceed with the residential zoned tax on agricultural land. Therefore, I call for the tax to be deferred until 2026 when we will have all of the facts about these matters to hand.