NEW LEADER CONFIRMS OUR STORY ON WAIVERS

SIMON Harris said in his Ard Fheis speech that the Government was keen to extend the waiver on development levies, confirming the Irish Daily Mail story, below, from last week.

The Fine Gael leader said at the weekend: ‘The waiver on development levies is working. It is making it cheaper to build and cheaper to buy. I want to work with my colleagues to see if it can be extended.’

Last year, the Government introduced temporary time-limited arrangements for the waiving of local authority Section 48 development contributions.

These are fees developers must pay to local councils when they get planning permission to develop a site. They are generally used to help pay for public infrastructure such as the refurbishment, upgrading, enlargement or replacement of roads, car parks, car parking places, sewers, waste water facilities, drains or water mains, the provision of open spaces, parks, community facilities and amenities, and landscaping works. Under the scheme, developers no longer had to pay the fees to the local council, but the council could claim for the value of the fee they would have received from the Department of Housing.

The scheme will cost the State around €100million in the year since it was introduced. Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien is keen to extend the initiative and believes it has helped to boost house building.

He is set to bring a proposal to Cabinet to extend the scheme in the coming weeks. A source said there was a ‘strong desire’ to see it extended.

Scheme waiving developer fees to be extended