Developers sting Galway City Council for €3.4m

Developers have stung Galway City Council for millions in unpaid development levies, new figures reveal.
Data released under Freedom of Information (FOI) shows that the local authority is owed a total of €3.4 million in unpaid development levies.
The City Council refused a request to release the names of the top 50 developers who owe most of the €3.4 million. It has led to calls from a public representative to ‘stop protecting’ developers, who should be ‘named and shamed’.
The FOI officer at the City Council refused the request for the top 50 individuals or companies who owe development levies.
Quoting a relevant section of the FOI Act, the Council said: “A head may refuse to grant an FOI request if access to the record concerned could, in the opinion of the head, reasonably be expected to disclose positions taken, or to be taken, or plans, procedures, criteria or instructions used or followed, or to be used or followed, for the purpose of any negotiations carried on or being, or to be, carried on by or on behalf of the Government or an FOI body.”
City Councillor Padraig Conneely (FG) said development levies are essential and are used by the Council for all sorts of public services such as footpaths, street lighting, parks, amenity, roads and so on. When they are not paid, it is the public that suffers. He said he will be seeking answers from the planning section of the City Council as to how many of the development levies relate to properties that are now in NAMA. He will also be seeking answers as to why the names of the people who owe money is not being made public.
“This is public information,” he said.
“The amount of development levies that is applied to any one development is a matter of public record; it is on the planning file. Therefore, the amount of money that hasn’t been paid should also be a matter of public record.
“What’s the big secret, why are we not being told about who these people who owe money are? If any of the properties for which development levies are owing are in NAMA, then the City Council is duty bound to pursue NAMA to recoup these levies,” added Cllr Conneely.

For more on this story, see the Galway City Tribune.