Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 September 2014
477. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government his views on the paper on vacant land tax sent to him by Dublin City Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35852/14]
View answerMy Department received a submission from Dublin City Council in October 2013 proposing the introduction of an economic instrument to incentivise the development of vacant sites in urban areas. Following on from this, Action 23 of the Government’s Construction 2020 Strategy – which was published in May 2014 – committed to examining the possibility of enabling local authorities, should they wish to do so, to adopt new measures to incentivise the use and development of vacant and underutilised sites in urban areas. In this regard, I intend to introduce a new Planning Bill shortly to facilitate the implementation of certain planning-related actions in the Construction 2020 strategy. A final decision on the issue of a measure to incentivise the use and development of vacant and underutilised sites in urban areas will be taken in the context of that Bill.
