Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What is important about this amendment and marks it as different from the previous one is that it about the provision of land.

There will be a response from within the relevant Department, assisted by the Housing Agency, in terms of the mechanism or agency that will deliver the accommodation stream we are talking about. I am not arguing that local authorities or the LDA should be providing that accommodation. My understanding of the White Paper from the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, is that the outworkings of the work described by the Minister will provide a mechanism to deliver that accommodation. The problem is that mechanism will not have any land. The provision of land will be key. Again, I am happy to withdraw this amendment, but I would urge the Minister to go one step further than his commitment to give us a paper. I think a briefing note would be very useful, and we would welcome that, but the provision of land will be key to whether whatever mechanism emerges out of the White Paper is able to deliver on the very ambitious, and rightly so, timetable that is set out in that White Paper. I am not asking the Minister to commit 100% to bringing back his own amendment. I am asking him to consider whether to place some kind of obligation on the LDA to assist in the provision of land, where that is appropriate, in the context of the relevant agencies delivering on the human rights-compliant own-door accommodation system for asylum applicants. I am asking him to at least consider that as an amendment. If he decides not to do that, we can re-table these amendments on Report Stage.

The Minister will know as well as I do that land is a key element in the delivery of this stream. Given the volumes of land that the Minister is promising will go through the books of the LDA, giving it some role in assisting the State in making an appropriate portion of that land available for human rights-compliant own-door accommodation would be the right thing to do. I am happy to withdraw the amendment, but I would ask the Minister to comment on whether he will, at least, examine the possibility of a Report Stage amendment from Government on this issue.