Education Minister backs deferral of residential zoned land tax as the 'right move'
The Government is seeking to find a compromise with farmers on the issue of land which is being actively farmed but is zoned for housing
A move to defer the introduction of a land hoarding tax is the "right move", Education Minister Norma Foley has said, despite some disquiet within the Green Party.
Finance Minister Jack Chambers on Tuesday said he would be delaying the introduction of a residential-zoned land tax as the Government seeks to find a compromise with farmers on the issue of land which is being actively farmed but is zoned for housing.
The decision was met with some anger in the Green Party, with one source in the party saying it believes Fianna Fáil has made "more of an election decision than a policy one" and saying the deferral of the tax would impact the building of homes.
The tax would have been introduced next year, with landowners having been due to face a 3% levy on the market value of land earmarked for housing development.
However, speaking in Glasnevin in Dublin on Wednesday, Norma Foley commended her party colleague and said the issue had to be "balanced".
"I think this is the right move, and I have engaged with them in relation to it," she said.
She said including farmers in the tax would put them "in a bind".
"I think there's a recognition that we also have to support farmers who are active on the ground...those who are actively farming, those who are using the land for the purpose of agriculture. I don't think they should be caught in a bind. We need to preserve that, but equally so we need to drive ahead, obviously, with housing.
"So it's a matter of balance. It's recognising the importance of agriculture. It's recognising the need and the supports that are required for housing. And it's doing both equally and doing things fairly."
Two Green TDs hit out at the plan on Wednesday. Speaking to Claire Byrne on RTÉ radio, junior minister Ossian Smyth that he was "amazed" that the tax was to be deferred again following an agreement in 2021 to defer it.
He said that he was "sure" it would not be deferred again and that landbanks capable of providing 220,000 homes were being sat on. He added that "if we don't go ahead and do this [introduce the tax] we're holding back 220,000 families".
"Here we are three years later and some politicians think it should be deferred for another year".
His party colleague Neasa Hourigan said that farmers had been made the scapegoat for the deferral. She said "average, decent farmers" should not be blamed for land hoarding.
"We're in the run up to an election and we know that what we're seeing right now is a step back from something that was agreed five years ago."
Separately, Ms Foley said she hoped to see free schoolbooks for secondary-level children expanded to Leaving Cert students in the budget. A scheme for children up to Junior Cert opened officially this year and Ms Foley said it was her "ambition" that it be expanded so all children would receive free schoolbooks from junior infants until Leaving Cert. She said there was "goodwill" towards the plan.
"I've never made a secret of the fact that it has always been my ambition, from day one to introduce the free textbooks. And I was very clear that we would do it in an incremental level...and it is my absolute ambition that we'd be able to follow it through the budget. But I'm very conscious that there's a number of competing demands in this budget."
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