Mr. Niall Cussen:

I thank the Deputy for his questions. As I said, we do not have detailed legislation before us, but it is important that we have this engagement to hear the views of the committee and that we take them on board in refining the legislation.

To respond to the two specific questions asked, on land assembly, it is fair to say the LDA's focus particularly in the initial phases will be on public sector lands.

On the agency working with local authorities, particularly in the delivery of social and affordable housing, the remit of the Department is housing, planning and local government. We will be keen to identify how we can ensure the activities of the LDA enhance the opportunities local authorities will want to see included in their development plans, housing strategies and so on for the delivery of housing generally in their functional areas and also for social and affordable housing purposes. As I mentioned in my response to Deputy Eoin Ó Broin, it is important that we use new funding instruments such as the serviced site fund and the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme in conjunction with the social housing delivery functions of the local authorities and other housing providers in the social housing space, including the housing associations mentioned by Deputy Fergus O'Dowd in realising the potential of sites. We have a baseline objective, but it is our ambition to go beyond it, whenever and however that is possible.