Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-14
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Victor Boyhan (IND), Agricultural Panel

I welcome the Minister of State and his team of staff to the House. I will take up on some of the points that Senator Higgins has made. I want to touch on them. I am conscious we are under a lot of time pressure. We are in the last week before the summer recess. There is an eagerness to complete a number of pieces of legislation over the next two days. Mindful of all of that, we are talking about section 3, amendment No. 1 in the name of Senator Higgins, and she has touched on a few issues in relation to the vacant sites levy. Yes, there are concerns about that. It has gone on from being this levy or tax - call it what you will. Clearly, we have to see everything in the context of the demand and the drive to produce more housing, and, indeed, more facilities for enterprise. We must never lose infrastructure and enterprise in the bigger debate on proper planning and sustainable development. It is not only about houses, while houses are very important. I am somewhat surprised in relation to one thing, which may be helpful for the Minister of State to clarify.
There were great expectations about the residential zoned land tax. I sit on the agriculture committee. The Minister of State will be aware that the IFA made submissions in relation to this tax. He will also be aware of the Taoiseach's commitment to look at the tax again. We cannot countenance a situation where land that is in active use for agriculture, horticulture and industries and services related to agriculture and sustainable food production can fall under the residential zoned land tax. We talk about the need to enhance and develop our land use strategy and I know there are plans to bring other strategies down the pathway.
It would be helpful to have some clarity in relation to the residential zoned land tax. If this tax is mentioned even once, be it in the Irish Farmers Journal , agriland.ie , the Farming Independent or elsewhere in agriculture news, it becomes a huge issue. It is an issue that farmers are particularly exercised about, and rightly and understandably so. As Senator Higgins said, we need a bit of clarity in regard to the residential zoned land tax in the context of what she is proposing.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:15+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-14