Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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129. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the full-year revenue raised from the vacant sites levy from 2015 to 2020, by local authority in tabular form; the estimated full-year revenue from the vacant sites levy in 2021, by local authority in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10755/21]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I refer the Deputy to Parliamentary Question No. 116 of 11 February 2021 in relation to the collection of the vacant site levy. The position remains the same.

The specific information sought by the Deputy in relation to the amount of the levy that could be raised in 2021 is not currently available in my Department. My Department does not maintain a central register of vacant sites, as each local authority administers the vacant site register in respect of their own functional area. A recent review of the on-line vacant site registers across all local authority areas shows there are collectively over 320 individual sites currently on the local registers. Over 300 of these sites were entered on the local vacant site registers on 1 January 2020 and are therefore subject to the levy in 2021, unless development works were activated in the interim.

Based on the information from the recent review of the online registers which showed that there were sites with market valuations of €441.5m listed on local authority registers on 1 January 2020 and were liable to the levy in 2021, it is estimated that the levy proceeds nationally for 2021 could be of the order of €30.9m based on the application of a site market valuation rate of 7%.

The levy is not intended to be a revenue generating measure with the proceeds accruing to the relevant local authority rather than the Exchequer. The levy proceeds generated are specifically intended to be used by local authorities for the provision of housing and regeneration development in the local area in which vacant sites are located. No more than 10% of the levy monies received by planning authorities may be used on their administration costs in collecting the levy.