Labour TD, Robert Dowds, has called for the introduction of a land bank tax on undeveloped zoned land, which he claims will improve planning in Irish towns and cities.

Mr Dowds said: "The proposal by Dublin City Council to tax vacant sites which are being hoarded by speculators and developers is a sensible and promising proposal which could help solve many of the planning problems affecting Dublin City and the surrounding areas. It is simply a disgrace that significant tracts of land near Dublin City centre have not been developed due to land hoarding by speculators, while at the same time commuters travel from counties such as Westmeath and Carlow to the city every day. It is a sign of very bad planning, and it is obvious that land hoarding and speculation has been playing its part in this bad planning for far too long.

"By keeping central sites out of use, Dublin is not able to develop as it should because prime locations are not being developed, resulting in development stretching out and leaving services to cover a wider geographical area. It also discourages investment because companies are not willing to set up operations next to an eyesore such as vacant land. If a tax were put on vacant land, then it would give the speculators a very good reason to either develop the land or to sell it on. I very much support this proposal and I would hope that the Government will consider it in the run up to the forthcoming Budget.

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"In the run up to last year's Budget, I put forward the case that there should be a higher tax on undeveloped zoned land across the State in order to encourage better use of land and help us to plan our towns and cities better. Several other countries such as Austria have a property tax system along these lines, because they recognise that if land is zoned for a particular purpose. Therefore, it makes no sense to have no tax on the land when it is undeveloped, yet to have a property tax on the land after it has been developed. This runs counter to encouraging sustainable development, and unless this is addressed, it could lead to land banks being a hallmark of Irish towns and cities for decades to come.

"These planning problems are not confined to Dublin City Centre either. In my own area of Clondalkin and Lucan, there is a vast swathe of land which has been zoned for development for decades and is as yet undeveloped, even through the building boom in the last decade. It has meant that train stations which pass straight through the land bank are out of reach to commuters, leading to a bigger demands on the roads and more traffic congestion. This is an example of the bad effects of bad planning and I think it is high time that we tackled the issue head on, as Dublin City Council is proposing."

(CD/JP)