asked the Minister for Finance the projected gain in revenue to the Exchequer from the proposed increase of 1 per cent in the tax on derelict sites as provided in the arrangement announced in the Dáil on 9 March 1982 between Deputies Haughey and Gregory-Independent.

Clare): During the course of my Financial Statement of 25 March last I announced that the Government intended to introduce taxation on derelict sites. I further indicated in my speech on the Second Stage of the 1982 Finance Bill that the main purpose of the tax is to improve the environment, particularly in the inner city areas, by making it less profitable to hoard unsightly areas in anticipation of development. The principal public agents of urban renewal are, of course, the local authorities who should receive the revenues accruing from this tax.

The Minister for the Environment, who has responsibility for urban renewal, is at present examining the possibility of developing these taxes on the lines of local authority taxes. No estimate of the yield can be given at this stage.