Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

From my perspective, the main difference between what this Government wants the LDA to do and what the Opposition wants it to do boils down to the delivery of homes. We want the LDA to deliver housing on State-owned land and the Opposition does not want it to have that power.

That is why the LDA must have the power to act on unused State-owned land, including local authority-owned land. We are in the middle of a housing crisis and there is State-owned land lying idle and we want to change that. I accept the Minister's response to the concerns I have raised here today on behalf of Local Authority Members Association, LAMA, and Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, and urge him to use Report Stage to respond to the concerns of councillors while ensuring the LDA can achieve its main objective of delivering much-needed homes on State-owned lands.