Council paid close to €500k in Residential Zoned Land Tax to Revenue last year

Meath County Council paid close to half a million euro in Residential Zoned Land Tax to Revenue last year for zoned lands it owns that have not yet been built on it has emerged.

During a discussion on housing, Cllr Nick Killian questioned how much the council would have to pay Revenue in RZLT for a site in Ashbourne where a social housing proposal for 79 houses was rejected by councillors last year following a split vote. He said whatever amount was being paid was wasted money and he hoped that the site would be pursued as quickly as possible.

Director of Finance Sheila Harkin said she did not have the individual breakdown but that last year they paid €498,000 in total and the return for 2026 is €546,000.

She hoped there would be some recoupment but the general feeling is tha there will be no exemption for local authorities for RZLT and they will have to pay like any other land holder.

Chief Executive Kieran Kehoe said it was "counter productive" that they are being encouraged to go out and buy land for housing and being given strong targets which they want to achieve but with the “best will in the world” it can take years to deliver these houses.

He said they would have similar concerns regarding derelict sites and that Revenue could start to take funds from derelict sites as a tax which wouldn't come back to the council to address the regeneration that they are trying to do.