The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, has signalled his determination to resist pressure from the building industry, which objects to the surrender of up to 20 per cent of its development land for social and affordable housing. It is a correct decision. Powerful vested interests should not be allowed to stymie social legislation that has been passed by the Dail and ratified by the Supreme Court. Under the Planning and Development Act, planning permissions lapse after two years if builders fail to co-operate with local authorities in the provision of social and affordable housing. And they have to re-apply for permissions. That is the stick being waved by the Minister. But it may not be enough, now that the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has dropped a larger cudgel in the shape of a 60 per cent tax on hoarded development land.
Local authorities, particularly in the Dublin region, are incapable of meeting the housing demands of needy families. As property values soared in recent years, the waiting list grew rapidly to 7,500. And, in spite of increased demand, only 800 houses were built or purchased by Dublin councils last year. Even allowing for the inclusion of social and affordable housing, it has been calculated that, in five year's time, no impact will have been made on the size of the waiting list. If builders refuse to meet their social obligations and fail to develop re-zoned land, the situation will be very much worse.
The Coalition Government has chosen to deal with the growing local authority housing crisis by way of taxation measures and regulatory machinery, rather than through direct action. In the process, the level of house building by the State has drastically declined in percentage terms and the size of its land bank has been seriously depleted. Anecdotal evidence would suggest that some builders, having made a great deal of money in recent years, are content to sit back and watch the value of their land banks grow while demand for new housing builds. Such a situation would be intolerable. If the building sector fails to respond to Government blandishments, a tougher approach will be required.