John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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640. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of sites registered for the vacant site levy; the number of those which are under appeal with An Bord Pleanála by each local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49323/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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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 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 by planning authorities in January 2017 and planning authorities have begun the process of entering sites on the register and notifying the registered owner.

My Department does not maintain a central register of vacant sites as each local authority administers the vacant site register in respect of their functional area. On foot of a review of the on-line vacant site registers, I understand that there are over 100 sites on the registers and 28 of these cases have been appealed to An Bord Pleanála as follows:

My Department continues to monitor and engage with local authorities in relation to the implementation of the vacant site levy and, as recently as 8 November 2017, held a seminar with authorities in this regard.