Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thought there was confusion about the fees payable. It was stated half of the fees would go back to local authorities. Where exactly do they go? They should stay with the local authorities as there is a lot of extra work to be done. There is preplanning and all of the planning stages to be gone through. There is a staffing issue in most local authorities as staff have not been replaced. It is a five year process before one can apply to have a housing estate taken in charge. The local authority must take it on and will have ongoing electricity and maintenance bills. Whether this is included in regulations, it should be changed. Every local authority should automatically be given the full amount required for the upkeep of all the estates they take in charge. Can the legislation be changed to ensure this?

The Bill will only affect certain areas in bigger cities and towns. In rural areas local authorities have land on which they might build only 20 or 30 houses. It would be great to see this happen, but their provision need to be fast tracked. We used to have a four stage planning process with the local authorities through the Department. I dealt with the Department on housing issues when I was chairperson of the housing strategic policy committee in Carlow for ten years. Local authorities and the Department wait ages to receive further information. Local authorities will not build 100 units, although I wish they would, but even on a smaller scale, the process should be fast-tracked and the period changed to 2019 to give them a chance to build and have people housed because we are in a crisis.

On the resources available from the Department, it is important that local authorities have sufficient funding. It is important, therefore, that the Department work with local authorities to ensure this will be the case.