Irish Examiner View: Collect vacant-site levy promptly

€11.5m outstanding from 2019; €14.3m from 2020

As the vacant-site levy is collected in arrears, it is too early to be concerned that payments of €14.3m due to local authorities are outstanding in relation to 2020. However, that payments of €11.5m are outstanding in respect of 2019 cannot be so easily dismissed. 

Vacant-site levies bring derelict sites back into use and discourage land hoarding. The funds gathered are intended to be used by local authorities for the provision of housing and regeneration development in the area in which vacant sites are located. That sounds grand, but if the levy is not collected promptly, then the opportunity is at least delayed.