Ms Maria Graham:

Reference was made to the strategic assembly of sites, which will in the long term be important, through the acquisition of land in public and private ownership. There are decisions the LDA could make on purchasing land, but we are looking at the potential for compulsory purchase. It is just a question of how to get the balance right. Particularly in the context of the full assembly of a mixed site, strips of land, colloquially known as "ransom strips", could be used. We are trying to strike that balance.

Senator Boyhan made a point about the LDA having the capacity with local authorities and other public bodies to look at that issue in a confidential manner in order that they could act commercially and land prices could be kept from rising. That feeds into his first question about the balance within freedom of information legislation and what is commercial and the other elements of the operation. That is the balancing act in which we are trying to engage. I agree completely with him on the need to utilise all sites. That is obviously one of the pillars of Rebuilding Ireland. We have done a great deal of work on vacant sites reuse and obviously introduced things like repair and lease programmes in that context. Proposals are coming under the urban and rural development fund, particularly in smaller towns where there may be a derelict site at the back of a shop on a main street which could be activated. There are also larger regeneration projects in respect of the LDA. All of these things have to be moving in the right direction.

In our engagement with the chief executives of the local authorities who we meet regularly they have demonstrated a co-operative spirit with regard to the LDA. The Senator is concerned that they might see it as a threat, but they are working together in a way that will avoid the issue of duplication that has been raised here to ensure both parties will have the best outcome.

The Senator mentioned the disposal of local authority lands, which is a much broader matter. The lands the legislation defines as "public lands" are those lands owned by Ministers and direct non-commercial entities. The LDA will act with commercial bodies on a commercial basis and local authorities on a partnership basis, rather than seeking to acquire local authority lands. Mr. Coleman might explore that issue. There will be a broader governance piece on changing local authority and elected members' powers of scrutiny of their own landbanks.