Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I have engaged with my colleagues the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage on the introduction of the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT), and the related concerns expressed by stakeholders including farmers and farm representative bodies.

Introduced in 2021, the RZLT is an action under the "Housing for All" plan and is designed to prompt residential development by owners of land that is zoned for residential or mixed-use (including residential) purposes and that is serviced.

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage Guidelines identify the following land as within scope:

• land zoned suitable for residential development whether it be solely or primarily for residential use, or for a mixture of uses, including residential use, and
• land serviced;

Agricultural land which is zoned solely or primarily for residential use meets the criteria set out within the legislation and therefore falls within the scope of the tax currently. I am very conscious that this could impact landowners who may be using the land for non-residential use such as farming. However, the land may still be zoned residential as it is serviced by the local authority to enable housing development to accommodate supply in the most suitable locations.

It is important to note that landowners were afforded the opportunity to make submissions to their local authority and to request a change to the zoning of their land. If the landowner disagreed with the determination, they could submit an appeal to An Bord Pleanála on or before 1 May 2023.

Supplemental zoned land maps, identifying additional zoned and serviced land were prepared, and published by 1 May 2023. Submissions to local authorities could be made up to 1 June 2023.

I welcomed the Budget 2024 announcement by Minister McGrath that the tax liability would be deferred for one year to allow affected landowners sufficient opportunity to engage with the mapping process and to ensure a fair and transparent process is applied when finalising the RZLT maps.

An extended date of 31 May 2024 is in place for submissions for requests to revise or rezone. The Departments of Finance and Housing are currently working on arrangements for this new date and have undertaken to raise public awareness on the process involved on requesting revision or rezoning.

I saw it as important, in view of the concerns of farmers, that this tax liability was deferred for one year thus allowing active farmers an opportunity to engage with the process and seek a dezoning of their land if they so wish.

I am continuing to engage with my Ministerial colleagues on this issues.