Developers unlikely to pay €850m levy bill

BUILDERS are likely to walk away without paying a combined €850 million in development levies owed to cash-strapped local authorities after the Department of Environment asked for “relative flexibility” in dealing with the debts.

As the Government conceded that at least €191m of these are “doubtful debts” that will never be collected from developers, it emerged that almost 4,000 social housing units are lying empty because councils do not have the funds to carry out repair works on them.

This is despite more than 100,000 people waiting on social housing lists around the country.