Political Establishment Bending Over Backwards To Help Land-Hoarders
Éirígí's Galway representative, Ian Ó Dálaigh, has slammed the Twenty-Six County government's decision to replace the Vacant Site Levy with a new 'Zoned Land Tax'.
Speaking from Galway, Ó Dálaigh said, "The Twenty-Six County government’s decision to replace the Vacant Site Levy with a new Zoned Land Tax is being lauded as a step in the right direction by the political establishment, but in reality, it amounts to nothing more than a tax break for land-hoarders who want to control the supply of new housing.
Under the existing Vacant Site Levy regulations, those who hoard land that is suitable for housing are supposed to pay a 7% annual levy on the market value of that land. That figure of 7% was far too low and now the new Zoned Land Tax will apply a levy of just 3%.
A 4% reduction would be outrageous in any circumstance - but it's all the more galling coming at a time when we need action to break the hold of these property parasites. Instead, the establishment are, yet again, bending over backwards to aid the property class.
Here in Galway, we have sites like the old Corrib Great Southern Hotel, which has been left idle since it closed in 2007. Éirígí have previously called on the City Council to issue a compulsory purchase order on this land, and use it for student UP housing.
The Corrib Great Southern site has been left derelict for fourteen years
The Corrib site is co-owned by the Comer Brothers - who own 1% of all the housing stock in Galway - and the McHale family who also own McHale Engineering in Mayo.
The McHales also own the old Dawn Dairies site on the Dublin Road, and the old Connacht Laundry site on St. Helen's Street - both prime locations that could, and should, be used for housing of some sort and preferably UP Housing.
Instead the government is offering tax breaks to land-hoarders like the Comers , the McHales and many others across the length and breadth of the state.
We need a housing system that puts the needs of families and communities ahead of the greed of landlords, bankers, developers, estate agents, land hoarders and a host of other housing parasites that have grown rich off the back of the misery of ordinary people.
I am asking the people of Galway to get involved in the fight for housing justice. A movement built by people power is the only way we can pressure the political establishment into radically changing their approach to housing”.