Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Sure, and I apologise for coming in. I just thought it would be important to respond to Deputy McAuliffe's point. The point is that we should legislate in line with Government policy. If the new policy of the Government is the direct provision of public housing, as Deputy McAuliffe says, and for 100% public and affordable housing on public land, let us first acknowledge that that is a departure from the initial conception of the LDA. The problem is that the legislation is in line with the old policy. The actual detail of the legislation is not in line with the policy Deputy McAuliffe is articulating; it is in line with the old policy. Critically, this centres on the amendments we are now discussing. If what we are trying to do is deliver public and affordable housing on public land, why set up the agency to do this as a commercial company rather than a public agency? The two things do not go together. I am afraid verbal commitments from the Government that it is in favour of what we are arguing for, what the ESRI is now arguing for and what Deputy McAuliffe says the Government is now in favour of do not tally with what is in this Bill. What this Bill is about is setting up a commercial entity that is allowed - and this legislation facilitates this - to enter into commercial arrangements with private investment vehicles.