Mr. Niall Cussen:

I thank the members of the committee for the invitation to appear this morning. As Mr. Coleman stated, given the high degree of importance placed by Government and the Department on the work of the Land Development Agency and the need to progress its legislative and operational underpinnings, there is much to be gained in shaping those underpinnings through effective and practical engagement with the committee as we develop that framework.

There are three main areas I would like to cover in my opening remarks. The first is the policy grounding for the LDA, which goes to the heart of the national planning framework, NPF, Project Ireland 2040 and previous work by this committee in examining the framework at its formative stages. The second is the details and timescale for the legislative programme being progressed by the Department to put the LDA on a full primary legislative footing. Finally, I will also discuss some of the interim funding arrangements that have been put in place to enable the LDA to function in the context of budget 2018.

Mr. Coleman referred to the policy basis for the LDA, and I think everybody in this room would agree with the broad consensus that spatial planning policies which are aimed at ensuring that the right forms of development happen at the right time, in the right sequence and, most critically, at the right locations - all in a manner that is economical to those who require such development, whether for housing or other purposes - will not happen without a more proactive role by the State in land management terms.

From the Kenny report of 1973 to the National Economic and Social Council’s report on land of last March, to international experience in other jurisdictions to which Mr. Cussen alluded, there is a consensus that proactive management of the supply of land for development, and redevelopment for that matter, is required if strategic public policy aims are to be met in areas like sustainable urban development and housing supply. For these reasons and to progress objectives in sustainable urban development, particularly national brownfield development targets, the Government’s national planning framework, which was published earlier this year with the national development plan under Project Ireland 2040, committed to the establishment of what was then titled a "national regeneration and development agency”.

Under the NPF, national policy objective 66 provides that a "more effective strategic and centrally managed approach will be taken to realise the development potential of the overall portfolio of state owned and/or influenced lands in the five main cities ... other major urban areas and in rural towns and villages as a priority, particularly through the establishment of a National Regeneration and Development Agency." The Government’s establishment of the LDA on 13 September 2018 is a key implementation step, therefore, for the NPF’s policies in this regard.

The LDA will act as a key new Government instrument and, in line with its mandate, as a national centre of expertise, working with and supporting local authorities, public bodies and other interests to harness public lands as catalysts for regeneration and wider investment and, critically, to achieve compact, sustainable urban growth, with a particular emphasis on complex regeneration projects and the provision of social and affordable housing.

As Mr. Coleman outlined, the two primary objectives of the LDA are to ensure the optimal usage of State lands, co-ordinating their regeneration and development and opening up key sites not being optimally used, especially for the delivery of homes; and to drive strategic land assembly through mechanisms that will bring together both public and private sector interests in ensuring the timely preparation and release of strategic land for development in a counter-cyclical manner, stabilising the tendency towards volatility in development land values and securing more of the increase in such values as a result of the planning and infrastructure investment processes for the common good, thereby driving increased affordability through better and more cost-competitive land availability.

While the LDA has been initially established by way of an establishment order under the Local Government Services (Corporate Bodies) Act 1971, the Department recognises that the LDA requires a primary legislative footing. To this end, primary legislation for the LDA is being drafted with a view to preparing a general scheme of the Bill to go to Government in November. It is envisaged that pre-legislative scrutiny with this committee will be conducted in December, and we will be in contact with the committee shortly to work through some of the logistics of that. I appreciate the views of the committee in that regard. Taking account of such scrutiny, as well as the complex work required to draft the Bill, the intention is that, subject to the Government’s approval, the Bill will be published in the first quarter of 2019, with a view to it being progressed through the Houses of the Oireachtas and enacted by the summer recess at the latest.

It is important that the LDA has funds to operate effectively in this interim and start-up phase. In current expenditure, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government has provided up to €2 million in current funding from within the Department’s existing 2018 budget provisions to support the agency’s initial start-up administrative and operational costs, and a further provision of €3.5 million is being provided in the budget from the Department’s Vote.

On the capital expenditure side, an allocation of €16.5 million will be made available to the LDA from the 2019 urban regeneration and development fund on an interim basis pending finalisation of future capitalisation that will be underpinned by primary legislation. In that regard, the Government has approved future capitalisation of the LDA through a combination of transfers from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund in the form of subscription of share capital by the Minister for Finance and private finance of up to €1.25 billion. Capital funding will be used to fund feasibility appraisal, master-planning, infrastructure provision and, if required, development of sites, as well as strategic land acquisition as may be required in the circumstances.

In conclusion, the work under way in preparing a legislative footing for the LDA is a major priority item in the Department’s work and legislative programme. The Department strongly believes the LDA can and will make a major and strategic contribution to addressing structural gaps in Ireland’s planning and development process, with a particular emphasis on proactive management of both the State’s development landbank and the wider functioning of the land supply process as well. The Department looks forward to further engagement with this committee in ensuring that the LDA is as effective as we all believe it needs to be in addressing the policy issues I have outlined.