The Minister for the Environment and Local Government has defended the imposition of development levies by local authorities which could add several thousand euro to the cost of a newly-built home.
Responding to Opposition criticism, Mr Cullen said there was "nothing new" in the housing charges, which paid for local authority infrastructure. He said some media outlets had "erroneously" claimed the charges were new and would fund benchmarking increases.
Councils across the State are debating a new charge on developers to fund, roads, drainage, parks and community centres. Seventeen planning authorities have issued their proposals to date, with those in or near Dublin looking for the largest amounts. The new, fixed charges will replace the existing ad hoc system of levies.
Fingal and Wicklow county councils have proposed the highest charges - €140 per square metre, or about €17,500 on a traditional four-bedroom home. VAT of 13.5 per cent would bring this up to €19,863. Sligo is proposing the lowest charge at €5,675 after VAT.
There are concerns that the measure will have a particular impact on first-time buyers in the greater Dublin area.
Councils have until March next year to agree levies under the Planning and Development Act 2000.
The measure was welcomed yesterday by Chambers of Commerce Ireland. "Every house that is built represents an increased cost to local authorities in terms of services and it is not unreasonable that the people who are going to live in the houses and benefit from these services should have to contribute."
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, also defended the levies, telling the Dáil they were "an advance in social thinking and should be welcomed".
Mr Cullen described as "absolute nonsense" claims that the levies would add €28,000 to the cost of a new 200 sq metre home in certain counties.
"These are just figures that have been plucked out of the sky and being extrapolated to take extreme possibilities," the Minister said.
He did not wish to see "huge regional variations" between local authorities, although he admitted "the final say on all this lies with locally elected representatives, as it should be".
Mr Cullen added: "I have urged local authorities to take a reasonable approach to the imposition of development contributions to ensure that they don't affect house prices, which in any case, relate more to market demand than to the level of charge imposed on the developers."
The Labour Party environment spokesman, Mr Eamon Gilmore, said "there is nothing wrong with the principle" of development levies but "the amounts now being proposed are far in excess" of those envisaged.
"In the absence of any price control on new housing, these levies will end up being passed on to the purchaser, in most case, first-time buyers."
Mr Cullen said the charges had been in place in 1964 and "always have been levied on everybody".
All that had changed was that local authorities were now obliged to disclose the level of charges and the improvements for which they were to pay, in the interests of transparency.
"Councils can no longer pluck figures out of the air and apply them on new development," Mr Cullen said. "Councils must justify their demands on developers by applying these new transparent schemes."
As for benchmarking payments to local authority staff, the Minister told RTÉ that funding would be made available through the Department's Local Government Fund or through fund-raising mechanisms of local authorities.
Development levies announced to date
Proposed development levy, plus VAT, on typical family home, except South Dublin which is per bedroom
Clare - 12,000
Cork - 5,448
Dublin City - 11,918
DL-Rathdown - 13,053
Fingal - 19,863
Galway City - 11,350
Galway Co - 11,350
Kerry - 9,500
Limerick - Co11,918
Laois - 7,378
Offaly - 6,753
Roscommon - 6,810
Sligo - 5,675
South Dublin - 5,675
Tipperary SR - 13,870
Waterford - 9,125
Wicklow - 17,500