Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will make one overarching point before I address those bits and pieces. This is one of a suite of options; it is not the only option. Deputy Boyd Barrett questioned the usefulness of it. It is useful and beneficial but it is not the defining piece that fixes it all. The fixing of the housing and construction sector in Ireland is multifaceted and there are many different options. My concern about this amendment is about builders not developers. There are some builders who still have small portions of land but developers have hundreds of acres and they want to build 30, 40 or 50 units per acre. This is specifically about smaller builders for example a smaller builder with a ten acre plot of land. If Deputy Ó Broin's amendment is successful, the funding purely for social and affordable housing will be an issue because economy of scale will be an issue. If a builder owns ten acres of land, for example, and wants to have some private and some affordable he will have to provide 10% social housing under Part V if it is zoned land. My concern is because of the economy of scale considerations that if one is developing ten acres and one is chiselling out 40%, which is 30% affordable and 10% social, one will only be able to build on a specific four acres and it can only be funded under this scheme. The developer will still be stuck on the remaining 60% for private housing. That is what this is for. It is not an "us and them" situation. It is not social and affordable housing versus private housing. Many people in the private housing sector have the opportunity of getting loans from the State under the Rebuilding Ireland scheme. There is the 40-year loan for individuals earning less than €50,000 and couples earning less than €75,000. The interaction between private, social and affordable is important and that is where the real benefit comes for a smaller builder on a ten acre site.