Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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1280. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government if his Department has explored the number of potential development sites held by investors due to the seven-year capital gains tax exemption; and his views on whether this is a significant source of land hoarding. [33708/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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Matters of taxation policy are a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Finance. My Department does not hold specific information in relation to the impact of the taxation measure cited.

In terms of vacant sites more generally, the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 introduced a new measure, the vacant site levy, which is aimed at incentivising the development of vacant, under-utilised sites in urban areas.  Under the Act, planning authorities are required to establish a register of vacant sites in their areas, beginning on 1 January 2017, and to issue annual notices to owners of vacant sites by 1 June 2018 in respect of vacant sites on the register on 1 January 2018. The levy will be applied by planning authorities, commencing on 1 January 2019 in respect of sites which were vacant and on the vacant site register during the year 2018 and will subsequently be applied on an annual basis thereafter, as long as a site remains on the vacant site register in the preceding year.

Planning authorities are empowered to apply an annual vacant site levy of 3% of the market value of vacant sites, exceeding 0.5 hectares in area - with reduced or zero rates of levy applying in specific circumstances – which, in the planning authority’s opinion, were vacant or idle in the preceding year, in areas identified by the planning authority in its development plan or local area plan for residential or regeneration development. The 3% rate of vacant site levy is consistent with the rate applied to derelict sites under the Derelict Sites Act 1990 and is considered a reasonable initial step in incentivising the activation of such sites for residential or regeneration purposes.

It is also worth noting that all levies due on an individual site will remain a charge on the land concerned until all outstanding levies due are paid. Accordingly, under the vacant site levy provisions, there will be a cumulative effect associated with not activating a site for development purposes for each year that a site remains vacant or idle.

Planning authorities are presently engaging in the necessary preparatory work, prior to the application of the levy with effect from January 2019 in respect of sites identified on the register in 2018.  As required under the Act, this includes the identification of specific vacant sites for entry on the register as well as the registered owners of the sites in question along with undertaking a site valuation.  Vacant site registers were established in January 2017 by planning authorities and the registers will be populated as the preparatory work progresses during the year. 

With regard to addressing the issue of the hoarding of residentially zoned land, I have tabled a number of amendments to the provisions relating to the extension of duration of planning permissions in the Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2016, which is currently at Dáil Report Stage.  The amendments proposed are collectively aimed at tightening up the provisions in relation to the extension of duration of planning permissions and ensuring that extensions of duration, without commencing substantial development, will no longer be facilitated.