Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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770. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the information available to him on the extent of the exposure of local authorities to the loss of development levies arising from the purchase by voluntary housing associations of entire new housing estates. [6055/16]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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Development contributions are a key part of securing investment in enabling infrastructure required to facilitate future development. A planning authority may, when granting a permission under section 34 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 (as amended), include conditions requiring the payment of a contribution in respect of public infrastructure and facilities benefiting development in the area of the planning authority.

Development contributions are levied by planning authorities on the basis of a development contribution scheme approved by the elected members which sets out how contributions are to be applied in their respective functional areas. The level of contribution, and the types of development to which development contributions should apply, is therefore determined at local authority level in accordance with the powers vested in elected members in this connection. My role as Minister with regard to development contributions is to provide the necessary overarching legislative 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 and 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 respective functional areas. In effect, local authorities set their own policies in relation to their development contribution schemes, including exemptions from charging in specific circumstances if that is deemed appropriate.

The practice adopted by Dublin City Council since the introduction of development contribution schemes pursuant to Section 48 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, has always been to exempt social housing from such charges. The current development contribution scheme adopted by Dublin City Council covering the period 2016-2020 which was adopted by the Elected Members on 7 December 2015 provides an exemption for development contributions for ‘Social housing units, including those which are provided in accordance with an agreement made under Part V of the Planning and Development Act (as amended) or which are provided by a voluntary or co-operative housing body, which is recognised as such by the Council’.Therefore, the non-application by Dublin City Council of development contributions in respect of houses purchased by recognised housing bodies for social housing purposes is in accordance with the terms of its development contribution scheme as adopted by its elected members.