Sinn Féin spokesperson on Finance, Pearse Doherty TD, has called on the government to clarify whether or not the land hoarding tax (Residential Zoned Land Tax) will be deferred after contradictory statements by government ministers over the past 24 hours.

Teachta Doherty was responding after Minister Ossian Smyth this morning stated categorically that the tax would go ahead as planned, directly contradicting Finance Minister Jack Chambers’ assertion yesterday that it would be deferred.

Deputy Doherty said the contradictions smacked of opportunistic shadow boxing, and reiterated Sinn Féin’s position that deferring the tax would be yet another Fianna Fáil sop for land hoarders and speculators, and said the contradictory positions taken by ministers pointed to dysfunction and at the heart of government.

Deputy Doherty added that the government should exempt actively farmed land in this year’s Finance Bill as he argued for last year.

Teachta Doherty said:

“Today we had the farcical situation of a faux debate over the airwaves with a Green Party Minister of State adamant that the Residential Zoned Land Tax would not be deferred, directly contradicting statements made by the Fianna Fáil Finance Minister yesterday.

“Which one is it?

“This smacks of farcical shadow boxing between government parties, and points to political opportunism at the heart of government. They must immediately clarify their position.

“Let me be very clear what Sinn Féin’s position is: Any attempts to defer the Residential Zoned Land Tax can only be seen as another sop by Fianna Fáil to land hoarders and property speculators, who are sitting on land that should be developed to build much needed housing.

“Last year I introduced an amendment to the Finance Bill calling for the government to exempt actively farmed land from this tax, but instead the government did not agree with Sinn Féin, took no action and deferred the tax for another year.

“We have warned the government of this problem and they have taken no action to address it for nearly three years.

“When people wonder why we have a housing crisis, it is because of the inaction and ineptitude of government when it comes to decisions like this.

“This tax has already been deferred, and should not be deferred again. Sinn Féin has repeatedly raised the need to exempt actively farmed land from this tax with the government for the past three years but no action was taken.

“It does not take that long to make a simple amendment to legislation, and to use that as an excuse to defer this tax again will be nothing more than a smokescreen to allow land hoarders to have yet another year to sit on land that should be developed to build homes.”