Madam, - Why, amid all the talk of these tribunals, is the primary attention not focused on the problem of who owns the added value on land when it is rezoned?
As matters stand, this represents a parasitic profit, available to any unscrupulous developer to fund bribes to offer to the politicians who make re-zoning decisions.
Would it not make more sense for local government to buy land on the fringe of existing urban communities by compulsory purchase order at a price related to current agricultural use plus "removal of business" costs, and then rezone it, issuing leases to subsequent users at appropriate use-related rates?
In this way, local government could be funded by resources otherwise dissipated by parasitic speculation.
Does any political party support such a scheme? - Yours, etc.,
ROY JOHNSTON, Rathmines, Dublin 6.