Labour bill would cap land prices as recommended in 1973 Kenny report

Labour party leader Alan Kelly said the move would cut the cost of a semi-d on a greenfield site in Dublin by €30,000

Alan Kelly, the Labour Party leader pictured with Senator Ivana Bacik, the party’s candidate in the Dublin Bay South by-election: Labour’s new bill would allow councils to use compulsory purchase orders to buy land at capped prices. Picture: Rollingnews.ie

The Labour Party is planning to put pressure on the government to cut the price of housing land by bringing in a Dáil motion on the 1973 Kenny report.

Judge John Kenny recommended capping land prices to make housing more affordable in his 1973 report. It recommended that local authorities could compulsorily purchase land at a maximum premium of 25 per cent on the “existing use” value of land, but it was never implemented.

Alan ...