Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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2191. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if his Department has examined proposals to introduce tiered development levies with the intent of stimulating residential construction activity in the short term such as to allow local authorities to give preferential development levy rates to builders that build on a site quickly; and if local authorities are allowed to give preferential development levy rates to different developers as an incentive to develop a site quickly. [27318/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Stimulating residential construction activity through interventions on development contributions has already been examined by my Department. A development contribution rebate scheme featured as part of the Department's housing package, "Stabilising Rents, Boosting Supply" announced by the previous Government in November 2015. The primary objective of the scheme was to enhance the viability of the construction and sale of residential housing units at affordable prices in the locations of greatest need.

The scheme was subsequently launched in December 2015 and applies to the metropolitan areas of Cork City and County Councils, and all of Fingal, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin County Councils, as well as Dublin City Council.  Eligibility was confined to residential developments of at least 50 housing units, where the units must be completed and sold by 31 December 2017 at a price not greater than €300,000 in Dublin and €250,000 in Cork.  The rebate is payable in full for dwellings in the Dublin area with a confirmed sale price of up to €275,000, with an 80% rebate payable for units with a sale price between €275,000 and €300,000. In the Cork area, a 100% rebate will apply for dwellings with a sale price of up to €225,000, with an 80% rebate for units with sale prices between €225,000 and €250,000. The rebate will be paid solely in respect of development contributions paid to the relevant local authority for local authority infrastructure and services.

Further details of the scheme are available in  the Circular letter launching the scheme which issued from my Department to the relevant local authorities, and which is available at the following link - . Returns to date from the local authorities concerned indicate that there has been limited up-take in relation to the scheme.

The launch of the Help-To-Buy incentive in Budget 2016 has somewhat superseded the scheme, providing immediate and targeted support for first-time buyers of new homes in meeting their deposit requirements, creating greater certainty for the house building sector regarding the pool of available purchasers, and thereby encouraging and facilitating the construction of new housing units.