Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour)
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133. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he is satisfied with the number of sites listed on the vacant site registers of local authorities; his views on whether each site that should be on the register has been listed and are subject to the levy; if he will consider putting the onus on such sites to self-declare with appropriate penalties on those that fail to do so; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33820/21]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Under the vacant site levy provisions in the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015, planning authorities were empowered to apply a vacant site levy of 3% of the market valuation of relevant properties which were listed on local authority vacant site registers in 2018, which relevant owners were liable to pay in January 2019. The rate of the levy increased to 7% for sites listed on local authority vacant sites register from 2019 onwards which site owners became liable to pay in January 2020.

Local authorities are responsible for the administration of the vacant site register in respect of their functional area, which includes identifying sites for inclusion on the register and applying the levy to same. I have no role in relation to this matter. The vacant site register of each local authority is available on their website.

My Department proactively engages with local authorities with a view to ensuring that the vacant site levy achieves its full potential in terms of bringing concerned sites into productive use. In this regard, my Department issued Circular Letter PL 03/2021 on 8 March 2021 requesting the submission of a progress report on the collection of the levy by each local authority. A response has now been received from each of the 31 local authorities. My Department is currently assessing the responses received and intends to proactively engage with individual local authorities and identify any issues to be addressed. This is in line with the commitment in the Programme for Government - Our Shared Future to strengthen enforcement of the vacant site levy while also keeping the legislation under review.

While the legislation is kept under review, there are no current plans to amend the legislation as proposed.