Mr. Niall Cussen:

There is a lot of questions there. I will do my best to try to address them but we are at the very early stages of the drafting of the legislative programme so much of the function today is to listen, to take on board the points that have been made, and to take them back into the legislative process. As the members can probably appreciate, some of the policy deliberations around the main legislative parameters for this legislation have not been finalised. It is very important to have this sort of engagement in order to hear what issues the members of the committee feel are important for us to address. I will try to answer and Mr. Coleman will come in on other points.

On the additional powers the agency would have over and above the situation as is in terms of local authorities, we are examining that currently. The effectiveness of the compulsory purchase process is something we need to look at very carefully. As the Deputy is probably aware, the Law Reform Commission has work ongoing around looking at compulsory purchase order legislation more generally. It is very important that we harvest insights from that and see what we can deal with in the context of the Land Development Agency Bill. It is also fair to say that, in terms of powers and so on, a very important function of the Land Development Agency, which is perhaps not getting enough priority or focus, is the job of building up a baseline understanding of who owns what in respect of the public sector. There is no composite view of that currently, as the Deputy knows. It is a very important baseline to have so that there can be a proper land management policy approach.

Something that flows from that is the ability of a land development agency to put the microscope over composite ownerships and to determine whether there is some sort of strategic approach that should be used to further development and to ask whether lands, even though they may have a perfectly valid operational function, are being used appropriately bearing in mind wider policy parameters, with which the Deputy would be well familiar. We also need to consider how that interacts with the planning process while absolutely respecting that the members of the local authority are the ones who decide on development plans and policies and so on. Activating that conversation on the configuration of the current development plan or how zonings and so on are working is the optimal approach, bearing in mind that there are significant strategic land assembly options available.

I will let Mr. Coleman come in on the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF. Again, the commitment by the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform and our own Minister in respect of the funding of the Land Development Agency is a visible commitment that we are not setting up a body that is not in funds and which does not have resources to deploy in the context of its work. We are, however, at a very early stage in respect of the breakdown of how that would actually be deployed. I suppose that goes back to the business plan. Mr. Coleman will perhaps speak about that.

With regard to the units being delivered, the social and affordable units, and whether there will be additional money for the purchase of these, we have to go a step back and remember that through the work of the Land Development Agency, particularly in respect of getting access to lands that have hitherto been in the ownership of State bodies which have other priorities and so on, a new tranche of land is being opened up which is probably in the local authority development plan or has been zoned but on which nothing is happening. The work of the land agency will relate to marrying up the making available of that land and the existing capital and current programmes for social and affordable housing delivery. It is not a question of additional money being needed. This is about ensuring that the money that has been reserved is deployed and can be spent and put to good use in respect of the Government and the interest of the taxpayer etc.

The Deputy made a very good point on the serviced site fund and the Rebuilding Ireland home loan. He is absolutely correct. These are mechanisms that can be deployed in the context of the work of the Land Development Agency. I will let Mr. Coleman come in on the market rates, the land and the transactional aspects around that. As we have stated very clearly, while there is obviously a minimum requirement for 10% social housing provision in the context of the provisions of Part V, that will not be a barrier to the Land Development Agency implementing the mandate given to it in terms of broader Government policy, but also in respect of the requirements of particular public landowners of sites that would be going to the Land Development Agency to be advanced for development. A good example of that would be Housing Agency lands. The vast bulk, if not all, of those lands would be developed for social and affordable purposes. It is wrong to say that it is some sort of policy limit in terms of the level of social housing that will be provided on all the Land Development Agency sites. It very much varies depending on the circumstances or provenance of those sites in terms of what they were purchased for in the first place and so on.

Related to the question about whether additional funds will be required to pay for the social units and so on which are coming forward, obviously the work of the Land Development Agency is being targeted at making additional progress in respect of the delivery of the housing targets set out in Rebuilding Ireland - the 30,000 to 35,000 units or more that we require. We know that we are short in respect of the delivery of that right across the full continuum of housing solutions that we require. Obviously the Land Development Agency will be an important delivery mechanism in achieving those targets, including the provision of additional social housing solutions and so on on lands that are currently off limits in the context of the work of the local authorities and the co-operative housing bodies that Deputy O'Dowd mentioned.