Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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95. To ask the Minister for Finance his plans to introduce a tax on residential properties left vacant for over a year in areas of high housing demand, as is the case in Scotland, England and France; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28639/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I have no plans to introduce a tax along the lines suggested by the Deputy.

The Finance (Local Property Tax) Act 2012 as amended provides that residential properties that are suitable for use as a dwelling are generally liable to the local property tax, whether or not they have been left vacant. However, properties that are not suitable for use as a dwelling, and are not occupied as such, for example, because they are in a serious state of dereliction, are not liable to this tax.

Implementing an increased rate of tax along the lines suggested by the Deputy would present practical and perhaps legal difficulties in the identification of genuinely empty properties. In any event, as the full rate of Local Property Tax already applies to vacant residential properties in Ireland it is thought that this should provide sufficient encouragement for property owners to ensure they are not left vacant indefinitely.