Local authorities: Measures to cap the price of development land would be "almost certain" to pass a constitutional challenge in the courts, an Oireachtas Committee said yesterday.
In a report on property rights prepared following a specific request from the Taoiseach, the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution also said such measures could be introduced without any requirement for a referendum to amend the Constitution.
The report, published last night, called on the Coalition to give local authorities the power to acquire development land for a premium of just 25 per cent over its existing use value.
The committee said such a measure, which was first proposed in the 1973 Kenny report on the price of building land, would not be found unconstitutional.
"The additional premium (whether of 25 per cent or some other figure) which is the State is prepared to pay landowners following the compulsory acquisition of non-zoned land should result in such landowners doing better than if the lands in question had been zoned," the commitee said.
The effect of such a measure would be to empower local authorities to acquire land zoned residential, but not used for that purpose, for significantly less than than its market value.
The authorities would be given the power to acquire the land for a premium of 25 per cent over its agricultural value. This would cancel the much higher value derived from residential zoning.
The committee noted that measures in the Kenny report were never implemented because "it seems that the authorities believed such measures would be challenged in the courts and found unconstitutional".
However, it said court that decisions in the 1980s and 1990s have made it almost certain that such measure would withstand a challenge under the Constitution.
"Judging by contemporary case law, it is nevertheless very difficult to see why the recommendations contained in the Kenny report would not survive constitutional scrutiny."
The committee said there should be a major revision of the "byzantine" legislation in this area.
