Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I reiterate that the role of State lands is critical. It is critical we get affordable, cost-rental and social homes on to State lands. There is no question about that. When any of us talk about housing supply to the people involved, be it small builders, the not-for-profit sector and, indeed, local authorities, all of them say one of their big constraints is around getting access to land. Much development land is controlled by a small number of people who sit on it and release it on a slow basis over time, so they can attain the sorts of prices they want. That is a key issue. The Land Development Agency, if it was wide enough in its ambition and it took on the role originally envisaged for it, could play a key role in strategic land assembly.

I am not clear on the Minister's response. He stated compulsory purchase was not possible and cited state aid rules, but he also said CPO powers may well grow in future. How is it possible they may well grow in future but it is not possible at all to give those powers now? In terms of CPO powers and what we are talking about, the idea originates from the 1973 Kenny report. It is not new. That report has been through an all-party Oireachtas committee, which looked at it years ago, and many people have looked at it since. The majority opinion has been that it can certainly be implemented. To say that we must wait for the Law Reform Commission report, 48 years on from the Kenny report, does not hold water.

This issue is incredibly important in terms of what the Land Development Agency should be doing. Deputy Ó Broin is right. CPO powers do not always have to be used but they give a land development agency, or a strategic land assembly agency, power and clout to be able to negotiate. This was done very well in some other countries, where municipalities, a land agency or the state were given strong CPO powers. They did not always use those powers but it allowed them to negotiate, assemble sites and put in the infrastructure to ensure a good, continuous delivery of housing at affordable rates as it was needed, whether cost-rental or social. This would allow us to get out of these supply logjams. A key part of the supply logjam is, as the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, stated in its recent report, that the private sector simply cannot deliver on the demand. It is incapable of doing so even though Ireland has some of the highest house prices in western Europe.

To continue to rely on a small number of developers who hold most of the development land and landbanks and keep that role and power in their hands is a massive mistake in terms of solving the housing crisis, which is what we all want to do.