Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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611. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the euro amount estimated to be collected by Revenue from residential zoned land tax; the amount of revenue lost to local authorities from the vacant sites levy as a result of its replacement by residential zoned land tax; if his Department plans to compensate local authorities for loss in revenue and costs incurred in the administration of residential zoned land tax; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55100/25]

John Cummins (Waterford, 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 properties listed on registers in 2018, which relevant owners were liable to pay in January 2019. The rate of the levy increased to 7% from 2019 onwards, which site owners became liable to pay the following January. The primary purpose of the levy was to incentivise the development of vacant sites in urban areas for housing and regeneration purposes, thereby bringing the sites back into productive use.

To encourage the development of housing on lands which are suitably zoned and which have benefitted from investment in services, the Residential Zoned Land Tax (RZLT) was introduced by the Finance Act in 2021, and came into effect on 1 February 2025. While the RZLT replaces the Vacant Site Levy, the VSL however remains payable for previous calendar years up to the end of 2024, and unpaid levies due remain as a charge on the land.

Data recently published by the Revenue Commissioners 2025 indicates that the declared RZLT liability to date is c.€120 million, with €43 million collected and c€76 million deferred. It should be noted that deferral of the tax by the Revenue Commissioners reflects ongoing engagement with the planning process and activation of land for housing on the part of the land owners in question, which aligns with the objective of the measure.

Effective engagement with the local authority and activation of planning permissions can result in development of land without payment of tax being necessary, ensuring the effective use of the tax as a measure to encourage development of zoned and serviced land for housing and to redevelop vacant and idle land in urban centres.

It should be noted that both measures were not developed as revenue generating measures for Local Government or the Exchequer, but instead were developed as measures to reduce vacancy in the case of VSL, and to support the activation of zoned serviced land to deliver new housing in the case of RZLT.

Administration of the measure and publication of maps is part of the local authority planning function, undertaken in connection with their Development Plan preparation and implementation role, amongst other planning and housing responsibilities.

In order to support the initial mapping processes that have underpinned the implementation of the RZLT, my Department provided funding to aid purchase of equipment and software, and the procurement of specialist technical assistance, to Local Authorities between 2022 and 2024. Additional resourcing of local authority planning departments is also being undertaken in line with the Ministerial Action Plan on planning resources.