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

I move amendment No. 108:

In page 16, line 37, after “to” to insert “land management, land economics, sustainable land use,”.

I will speak to all amendments in my group to try to expedite them. My colleague, Deputy Thomas Gould, is in the building and is trying to log in to the meeting but is having technical difficulties. Perhaps that can be recorded until he gets in.

This all relates to section 15, which provides for the board of the agency. I will go through each of my amendments in the group one by one.

In the section dealing with the competencies of the members of the board, it seems odd that there is no requirement to have competencies in land management, land economics and sustainable land use given that according to the Government, one of the primary functions of this agency is active land management. Therefore, it is essential that there be board members with those very specialised skills that often necessitate university qualifications as well as work experience. That is the purpose of amendment No. 108.

Amendment No. 109 concerns section 15(6). It says that one of the requirements is for people to have experience of delivery of housing and goes on to say "which may include the delivery of social and affordable housing.". I am worried about the word "may" given that the Government is saying that the primary function of the agency is to deliver affordable housing and a portion of social housing. Therefore, I do not see why the word "may" is included. A comprehensive knowledge of social and affordable housing delivery should be an essential criterion.

Likewise, amendment No. 110 seeks a requirement to have knowledge of homeless services and homelessness prevention in those areas. There is constant discussion about the need to ensure boards have greater diversity in terms of gender and ethnic and cultural origins. Therefore, amendment No. 113 attempts to place a requirement into this section so that the Minister would have to have adequate regard for those.

Amendment No. 114 is a key amendment that aims to ensure that no member of the board has a conflicting financial interest in respect of the use of land for social and affordable housing by way of a mandatory self-declaration. Again, this is such an eminently sensible thing. Given that this will be a designated activities company and that even when it is subject to FOI, so much of the intricate detail of its dealings in land and residential development will be redacted, such a mandatory self-declaration is crucial.

My last amendment in this section requires the Minister to lay a report on the directors before the Oireachtas no less than 30 days after the appointment of the board. Again, this is something we have often called for when there have been changes to boards that come under the remit of the Minister so that there is full transparency and the Oireachtas, the media and the wider public know the people who have been appointed are and the basis for appointing them to such an important body, including their qualifications and work experience.