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

I fully support amendment No. 186 because it is very much in the same spirit as my own view of this section. Amendment No. 187 is also one of the AILG's amendments. It is a very specific provision whereby if the LDA intends to sell land that has originally been acquired from a local authority, it should be offered for purchase back to the local authority either at the prevailing market price paid to the local authority at the original acquisition or the original acquisition price, whichever is lower.

While one would not expect this to be a standard practice, it is a very important safeguard, in particular when the LDA is up and running and given that we do not know the future composition of Government. There might be a different Government with a different policy complexion. Therefore, we need to ensure that whenever decisions are being made to potentially sell on valuable local authority land or land that was originally local authority land to the private sector, there are checks and balances. I will support Deputy Cian O'Callaghan's amendment and will also move amendment No. 187.