Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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936. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the counties that have reviewed their development levy schemes on foot of the guidance issued by his Department; if local authorities have acted promptly and with due regard to the guidance issued; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19977/15]

Paudie Coffey (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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As Minister, my role is to provide the necessary statutory and policy framework within which individual development contribution schemes are adopted by each local authority. The adoption of these schemes is a reserved function of the locally elected members of each planning authority. It is a matter for the members to determine the level of contribution and the types of development to which they will apply in their functional areas.

My Department issued statutory guidelines on development contributions to all planning authorities in January 2013. The new guidelines built on the experience gained to date in implementing contribution schemes and also aligned development contribution policy with the Government’s prioritisation of employment creation, investment and sustainable development.

Since the issuing of these guidelines, 22 of the 31 local authorities have adopted new development contribution schemes or amended their previous schemes. Details in this regard are set out in the table below. Amended schemes generally reflect a revision of development contribution levy amounts in respect of residential and commercial development but fall short of a full revision of the scheme. It is expected that the remaining local authorities will revise their schemes by the end of 2015.