Development Levies

"In fact, county councils themselves were guilty of granting permission in order to pay debts - their own. A county like Meath that experienced a massive population explosion but no matching increase in central exchequer funding found itself under particular pressure. Levies paid by developers to the local authority on grant of permission were a tempting source of finance. Many suspect that some permissions were granted with the levy rather than the merits of the application in mind."--Sarah Carey, Irish Times, highlighting the need for local authorties to be released from their dependence on development levies for funding.