Maria Bailey (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Cowen I wish to ask some questions. I have the floor.

I thank the Department and the Minister for facilitating a meeting with the committee last Thursday when a huge amount of data, information and clarification was given to the committee. I thought that we had teased all of them out last week. Since Rebuilding Ireland was introduced, this committee has been afforded an unbelievable amount of data and construction statistics. That information is always available to the committee. I want it recognised that everything has been put on the table and has been made very clear to the committee. Some members may pick it up differently to others, but people are always available to clarify matters for us.

I have some questions about performance indicators within local authorities. Will we gauge certain local authorities against each other? If one authority is not providing the same level as a similar local authority, are there sanctions that can be imposed? The Minister said that under capital funding in local authority budgets they can take on staff for project managers. Are local county managers aware of this and if so why are they not doing it in areas where we are aware of massive landbanks and where we know we can deliver vast amount of lands.

I hugely welcome the affordable mortgage scheme. It is another piece of the jigsaw of Rebuilding Ireland. We have all been waiting for such a measure and I do not know why we had to wait for it. Can local authorities come forward with affordable schemes of their own under that banner, such as the rent-to-buy model that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown councillors have pushed for. Councillors John Bailey, Shane O'Brien and Michael Merrigan brought a cross-party proposal to their local authority with a rent-to-buy model that is very suitable for a local authority such as Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and for south County Dublin, where there is huge demand. Will these proposals be looked at in totality? Where local authorities have ownership of extremely valuable properties, the purchase prices of those properties and the costs associated with turning them into social housing is not good value. Eight properties could be purchased elsewhere for same the cost as turning these protected structures into four units, for example. I can provide the details of such a case after the meeting.

Can local authorities sell properties like that and ring-fence that money and use it then to purchase properties under Part 5? I think there is a misconception around that and I would like clarification on that. Can I also ask about the delivery office? How often does it meet? I am glad to see that pressure is now going to be put on particular local authorities where there are vast amounts of lands. It might be the runner in me but I do not accept excuses. We are hearing excuses that it is water or it is road infrastructure but local authorities have the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, and they have not drawn it down. Why have they not come in with a solution regarding those sites? If they have not drawn it down, why have we not taken this funding from them and given it to a local authority that will use it? It is about building the houses where people need them, and we need to put serious pressure on local authorities to deliver. We know that some local authorities are delivering, but there are some that are not delivering to the same level.

Can I finish up by saying thank you again for the amount of information that has been given to us? Department officials have made themselves available to a number of committee members at all times when they have asked for clarification of data or statistics, and the information has always been transparent and on the table for us to digest at this committee. There has never been any attempt to hide any data from this committee and I want to put that on the record.