I am extremely concerned about the new proposed residential-zoned land tax. I am in favour of a vacant site tax that encourages developers or those sitting on residentially-zoned land to engage in the process of development. I have reviewed the guidance from the Revenue on the tax in the last week and, in short, I was shocked. This tax is now a revenue-raising measure, as opposed to a tax that is designed to encourage stakeholders to develop land.

We have had a plethora of reports in recent months indicating that viability is now the key issue in housing. Commencements of developments continue to fall as a result of unviable permissions. Development plans have been adopted outside of Dublin and they continue to force developers to apply for permissions that are not viable. The planning regulator has advised the Minister on a number of locations to rezone lands to high density, rendering them unviable. The Tánaiste's Minister has adopted these changes knowing the effect will be to render the zoned lands undevelopable. If the Tánaiste does not believe me, then he might check with his own councillor, Anthony Barry from Carrigtwohill.

Willing developers trying their best to develop lands are being delayed for years by the dead hand of Government. What I mean by this is the dysfunctional planning departments in many county councils that are understaffed, the basket case that is An Bord Pleanála and the crazy zoning and house calculation targets set by the planning regulator. The planning process can take up to five years from the date of zoning and this is assuming the lands are serviced. It now can take up to eight months to get a preplanning meeting in County Wexford and I am sure it is the same with other local authorities. It takes a year to design a scheme, a year to get a decision, a further year, and possibly more, to get it approved by the board, if it was functioning, and another year to get a project through judicial reviews. During this entire process, the Government will have collected five years of land tax before development can be commenced.

Any tax such as this should provide reliefs for all of the above circumstances. The Government's tax does not. There should be a viability relief provision in the tax. The Exchequer already takes 52% of the cost of every new house. The Government is now proposing to possibly add up to 15% more to this figure by way of applying this new residential development land tax. The Government has also brought in a pyrite levy. Young people are at their wits' end trying to buy houses. How can they ever expect to afford a home when the Government keeps applying taxes that are simply going to be passed on to the poor misfortunate first-time buyers? This is the death nail in the coffin of housing, if it continues.

I thank the Deputy.

The residential zone land tax will raise revenue. Any tax raises revenue. However, that is not the primary purpose of the tax. Its primary purpose is to make sure that where land is zoned for housing, it gets developed for housing. We are all aware of the need for additional housing in the State and the fact that much land that is zoned for housing is not being developed. That is the purpose of and the thinking behind the tax. It is a response to the severe housing crisis that our citizens face. I might be wrong about this - and I will check up on it - but my understanding is that the tax will not apply if reasonable efforts are being made to develop land. It is not that houses or apartments have to be built on the relevant land tomorrow but that those involved must enter into the process of applying for planning permission, etc. I will double-check on that. I agree that it would not be fair to impose the tax on somebody who is making reasonable efforts to develop land for housing.

It is worth pointing out that a landowner can request that land be dezoned. We accept that people have private property rights and that land might be in a family for generations and they may not want to develop it. Under the legislation, it is possible for someone who does not want land to be developed to request that it be dezoned. The latter then allows us to zone land elsewhere that can then be developed for housing.

I very much agree with the Deputy that we need to make sure that our planning departments are properly resourced. The same goes for An Bord Pleanála. We will build approximately 28,000 new homes in Ireland this year - more than any year in over a decade - but we need the figure to be much higher than that. We need to build well over 30,000 homes next year. Part of that is making sure that planning departments are properly resourced.

I listened to the Tánaiste's response. He is a great supporter of the US Republican Party. Listening to him, what comes to mind is Ronald Reagan's assertion that the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: "I'm from the government and I'm here to help." There is nothing that the Government has done to help. Every time it seeks to give help to first-time buyers or do anything in respect of housing, everything just gets worse. Something has got to give.

For the record, I am not a supporter of any political party in the United States.

I will check with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, on the issue of reliefs. This is a tax that I agree with. Land that is zoned for housing should be developed for housing and people should not hang on to it. If they want to dezone land, that is fair enough. If, however, land is zoned for housing, it should be developed for housing. I do not agree that the tax should apply if somebody is making reasonable efforts, has applied for planning permission, etc. I will definitely follow that up with the Minister for Finance.