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

The real value of having CPO powers is the threat of using them rather than actually using them. They strengthen the negotiating hand of anybody in discussions. As the Minister well knows, unfortunately, a large number of the commercial semi-States which have some of these landbanks that are not being used cannot be directed by the Government to transfer land. For example, the bus garages in Dublin city, whether it is Donnybrook or Pearse Street, are sites of enormous strategic importance particularly in terms of residential and mixed-use developments. Without a CPO power, if the owners of those lands do not want to engage with the LDA or engage with it in on favourable terms, the agency's hand is greatly weakened.

If the Minister is committing not to allow local authority land to come under CPO, I cannot understand why he would not support the Association of Irish Local Government's amendment No. 196 because it simply seeks to put that in the legislation. I will not labour the point, however.

On the one hand, the Government approved the removal of section 183 land disposal powers from local authorities and elected members. That means basically significant tracts of local authority land could be transferred to the LDA without the approval of elected members or indeed the transparency of the section 183 process. At the same time, the Minister says he want the local authorities to buy more land. Why not just let them deliver the housing on the land they own? That is why it is going to undermine the role of local authorities.

As we have already seen with St. Teresa's Gardens, the big projects will be transferred to the LDA while local authorities will be left, in the main, doing smaller infill schemes because the Government will not give them the money or improve the approval and procurement process to get on with it. The big delay in large local authority schemes is the lack of investment by the Government and the bureaucratic four-stage process. I will not labour these points, however.