Kerry farmers told they could owe up to €100,000 a year in new land tax

Danny Healy-Rae said many farmers with lands near Killarney, Tralee, Listowel and Castleisland have not slept since they got notification at the beginning of April that they are liable for the zoned land tax.

Some farmers have been told they could owe as much as €100,000 a year.

The plight of Co Kerry farmers drawn into the residential zoned land tax net, who have been told their bill could be up to €100,000 a year, has been raised by local Independent TD Danny Healy-Rae.

He said many farmers with lands near Killarney, Tralee, Listowel and Castleisland have not slept since they got notification at the beginning of April that they are liable for the zoned land tax.

Responding in the Dáil, Minister for the Office of Public Works Patrick O’Donovan said, “If a landowner disagrees with the determination of a council, he or she can appeal to An Bord Pleanála. If a landowner requested a rezoning of his or her land, the local authority would consider the request and, if appropriate, it would commence a variation procedure to alter the zoning of the land”.

Deputy Healy-Rae said some of the Kerry farms in the tax net are zoned as 'strategic reserve' [where land is zoned for development at some time in the future, but no objectives are indicated by planning authorities].

“Under strategic reserve, you are not even entitled to get planning permission”, said Deputy Healy-Rae, who said some of those notified have been farming their land for three generations. “Will these active farmers be wiped out?... It is wrong."

Mr Healy-Rae said the route of appealing to An Bord Pleanála was "an expensive process”. “Active farmers who have been farming their lands for many years should not be put through this. They should be exempt. A distinction should be made between the big hoarders of land in Dublin, where the housing problem is”.

Minister O’Donovan said the RZLT is designed to prompt residential development by landowners, including farmers.

“It is important to note that to come within the scope of RZLT, farmland must be both zoned and fit for residential use, and be serviced or have access to services. Farmland that is zoned for residential use but is not currently serviced is not within the scope of the tax”.

Land is considered 'serviced' where it is reasonable to consider that the land has access to, or may be connected to, public infrastructure and facilities, including roads and footpaths, public lighting, foul sewer drainage, surface water drainage and public water supply necessary for dwellings to be developed on the land, and sufficient service capacity available for each development.

“Agricultural land that is zoned for a mixture of uses, including residential, is not in scope, because farming is a trade or profession that benefits from an exemption in the legislation.

“...If landowners see that their land is included on the draft maps, and believe that it should not be, they had the opportunity to make a submission to their local authorities by January 1 seeking to have the maps updated and their land removed from them”.

“It is acknowledged that the tax will impact landowners. However, if the land in question is zoned for a particular purpose under a plan adopted by the local authority, and has been subject to investment by the local authority and the State in the services necessary to enable development for housing to accommodate increased population, it is intended that the land should be used for housing”.