Housing Policy
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-19
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James Browne (FF), Wexford

I thank Deputy O'Meara for this important question about levies on one-off housing. I thank the Deputy for his ongoing engagement with me and the Department in terms of how we can deliver more homes in County Tipperary and at an affordable price. Development contributions allow local authorities to recoup some of the public costs of servicing land for private development. They provide a mechanism for contributions to the cost of providing public infrastructure and facilities that benefit development in the area and are expended on public infrastructure defined under the Planning Acts, as well. These include the provision of open spaces, recreational and community facilities, roads, sewers, wastewater and water treatment facilities, drains and water mains, public transport, schools, school sites, broadband and flood relief works.
The adoption of the development contribution schemes is a reserved function of the locally-elected members of each planning authority. It is a matter for the members to determine first the level of contribution and the types of development to which they will apply and second, the expenditure of contributions within the confines of their scheme conditions.
The legal basis for development contributions are sections 48 and 49 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. Under section 48, planning authorities must draw up a development contribution scheme in respect of certain public infrastructure and facilities provided by, or on behalf of, the local authority that generally benefit development in the area. All planning permissions granted are subject to the conditions of the development contribution as set by the local planning authority.
Section 48(2)(b) of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, provides that a development contribution scheme applied by a planning authority in respect of its functional area may make provision for payment of different contributions in respect of different classes or descriptions of development. In other words, they get to distinguish between one-off houses and larger developments. The level of contribution and the types of development to which development contributions should apply are determined at local authority level, in accordance with the powers vested in local elected members in relation to the adoption of local authority development contribution schemes.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-19