Fine Gael TD for Wicklow and member of the Public Accounts Committee, Simon Haris, has called on local authorities to immediately outline why there is almost €750 million owed in development levies to councils across the country.

Deputy Harris obtained the figures by way of a Parliamentary Question to the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan TD.

"The extremely large amount of money owed to local authorities by developers will come as a shock to taxpayers across this country. We now need answers from our local authorities about why such a large sum of money is outstanding, how much of this money they realistically expect to be in a position to recoup, and what processes are in place to ensure that developers pay the bills owed to the Irish taxpayer.

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"Development levies are meant to be paid upfront before any development commences. If councils came to arrangements with developers to pay levies on a phased basis then they clearly had a duty to ensure that these levies were paid. I am alarmed to see that more than €300 million of outstanding levies have now been classified as 'long-term'. This clearly shows that these levies were due to be paid some time ago and were never recouped by the council. Today’s figures give a worrying insight into the lack of structures and controls in place in local authorities under the Fianna Fáil-led Government.

"Many citizens will be extremely frustrated to see what appears to be the lax approach by councils to developers and how this contrasts with councils proactively seeking payment of business rates from small local businesses.

"To be quite frank, these figures raise questions and suspicions on the relationships that existed in Celtic Tiger Ireland. The close relationship at the time between developers and the Fianna Fáil-led Government is well known.

"This Government has been tasked with rebuilding the country; transitioning it to a new enterprise-based economy and away from an unsustainable economy built on construction and debt. Local Government must operate to the very highest standards. The Minister for the Environment is committed to building a stronger, more cohesive local government structure. We have to ensure that our councils have the financial controls in place to deliver local services for citizens across the country."

(CD)