A local councillor has called for the date for the Temporary Time Limited Waiver in respect of development contributions to be changed.
Cllr. Marie Murphy brought the Notice of Motion to this month’s plenary meeting of Tipperary County Council for the waiver, which forgoes the costs of development contributions when building.
Cllr. Murphy is calling for the commencement notices that were submitted to the local authority within the 28-day period prior to March 28, 2023, to be changed to January 1, 2023.
Following support from the council chambers, a letter with the request will be circulated to other local authorities, as well as the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, and Minister of Housing, Finance, and Public Expenditure.
The Fine Gael Councillor told Tipp FM why she called for the change of date.
“I would hope that people who may have submitted their commencement notices to the council in January, February, or March might not yet have started building and that they will benefit from not having to pay the development contributions, which can be six, right, ten thousand euros; it depends on the size of the house you’re building. I just think January 1st, 2023, is a sound date, whereas 28 days is what came down from the Department. I think people need a hand – anyone building a house today, with building costs gone so high.”
The temporary development contribution waiver arrangements apply for 1 year to all permitted residential development that commences on site between April 25th, 2023, and April 24th, 2024, and is completed no later than December 31st, 2025.
Cllr. Murphy explained why she wanted to address as many people as possible with the written request.
“The Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure both have the purse strings. The council is going to get their development contributions anyway; people won’t have to pay them to the council, but the Exchequer will pay the council for the contributions that they don’t receive that they would receive in the normal course of things. That’s why I included I included both ministers in the finance portfolio. I thought while I was at it, I would go for the Taoiseach and Tánaiste just to press home exactly where I was coming from.”
