Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I hear what Councillor Sheahan is saying and I agree with it. I will direct a question to Councillor Colgan. I particularly welcome her because I worked closely with her in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. She is a very impressive individual on the issues around housing and planning, as can be seen today. Can Councillor Colgan share her experience with the committee? She touched earlier on the fact that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown is unique in having had two major interactions with the LDA in recent times. One was Shanganagh Castle, a very substantial block of land that was primarily suitable for housing and was zoned as such. Councillor Colgan talked about constant engagement with the LDA, which I am delighted to hear about. I know many of the 40 councillors there and they tell me that is their shared experience. Councillor Colgan made a very important statement. We can learn from that and I am very pleased to know that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown ultimately reached an agreement with the Land Development Agency there.

The key word here is conditionality. One of the great things about the section 183 disposal for local authorities, a power vested exclusively and solely in elected members of the council, is that it gives power to bring in and attach conditions. That determines outcomes. Councillor Mary Howe, the president of the AILG, has been very strong on this particular issue. Can Councillor Colgan share with us the type of engagement and tensions that arose in bringing conditions to disposal? Ultimately, those conditions were accepted by both parties. This is possibly the way out of all this, that there can be an agreement. That is one issue.

I would also like to hear more about the engagement elected members had with the LDA where State land rather than local authority property was involved, particularly in the Dundrum local electoral area, LEA, which is also in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. How did the LDA engage with elected councillors in that area? That ongoing engagement and participation is important. I am aware, to a certain extent, of the LDA's engagement with the community. When I looked at its website and saw its engagement with the community, I was very impressed. I do not live in Dundrum, but having looked at the LDA website I see very proactive engagement by it in that area.

These are two different sets of circumstances, but the experience of elected members and whether they felt involved is key. More important is the great emphasis on conditionality that can be attached by an elected member to a section 183 disposal, which was very powerful and an instrument that should be retained as an exclusive reserve function of elected members.