Rabbitte attacks Government for failing to tackle land price ‘rip-off’

LABOUR leader Pat Rabbitte last night launched a scathing attack on the Government for failing to tackle the spiralling cost of housing.

Mr Rabbitte said he would introduce a new Bill to the Dáil in the autumn which would address the building land “rip-off”.

Speaking at the SIPTU biennial conference in Galway, Mr Rabbitte said it was time the concerns of the trade union movement, and of working people and families throughout Ireland, were met.

“At the very least, one would expect a Government which cared anything for the housing needs of its people to use taxation as an instrument to restore at least some of these windfall gains to the public, and in the process help calm the profiteering from housing,” he said.

“Instead, the Fianna Fáil/PD Government went in the opposite direction and reduced from 40% to 20% the capital gains tax on these super profits from development land. The owners of development land have ended up paying a lower percentage in tax than many of the builders’ labourers working on their sites,” Mr Rabbitte added.

He said the proposed Labour Bill would aim to reduce the price of building land by allowing local authorities to purchase land at lower prices for resale to those who will immediately build on it. The cheaper land would then be made available to private house builders, the voluntary and co-operative housing sector, or local authorities themselves.

Pointing the finger of blame at the Government, Mr Rabbitte said more than half of the development land for housing in the Fingal area of Dublin was owned by 25 individuals and organisations.

“They control, or can control, the rate at which that land is released to the market place, and in doing so they can effectively control its price,” he said.

The Labour leader also called on the Government not to scrap or raise the permissible levels of political donations as suggested by Environment Minister Martin Cullen two weeks ago.

“The Fianna Fáil greed for money is such that the party, against a backdrop of tribunals, is happy to risk giving public opinion the two fingers by reverting to the Dáil after only two years to again raise or abolish restrictions on fund- raising,” he said.