Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The audio was breaking up somewhat, so I missed some of the contribution but heard the broader point that the Deputy raised. The amendment seeks to remove from the section the reference to Part V of the Planning and Development Act, as he outlined. Part V should be the bare minimum, however. If the reference to Part V were removed, it would mean that for joint ventures or anything else in future, there would not be the bare minimum provision of Part V, and much LDA land will be well in excess of that.

While I understand the point the Deputy is making, to reiterate, the main deliverers of social and affordable housing are going to be the local authorities and we are tooling them up to do that with the biggest budget in the history of the State, and we intend to advance that further. They will be providing housing, but the LDA will be providing significant amounts of social, affordable and cost rental housing, which, to be fair, is what everyone wants.

It is not possible for me to accept the amendment, or any amendment to Part 9, on Committee Stage. I will explain the reason for that. I will not be accepting any of the amendments Deputies have tabled to Part 9 of the Bill, as I intend to introduce substantial amendments to this Part on Report Stage, in particular on sections 73, 75 and 76. I mentioned that my intention is to align the provisions of Part 9 with the provisions in the Affordable Housing Bill, which will conclude in the Seanad tomorrow and come into the Dáil next week. The LDA Bill was published in advance of the Affordable Housing Bill. They are two very significant pieces of legislation. I thank Members for their co-operation with them because they are both important. While Members may not agree with every aspect of the Bills, they will agree that the delivery of affordable homes for working people to buy and to rent is important. It is an absolute priority for me, for the Government, and I suggest for the Members opposite. I am going to align the provisions of the Affordable Housing Bill and Part V of the Planning and Development Act on cost rental and affordable purchase with the LDA Bill.

Affordable housing is a priority for all of us. I understand Members have their own views on how Part 9 could be further refined, but I ask them to withdraw the amendments so that we can consider them on Report Stage when I will be in a position to bring Government amendments on this particular Part. The purpose of that is to make sure there is an alignment between the definitions on affordability and eligibility with the LDA Bill. I know Members and their teams have put some effort into tabling amendments on Part 9, but I cannot accept them because we are going to return to them on Report Stage, as I have outlined. I ask Members opposite to consider withdrawing the amendments at this Stage and reserving the right to reintroduce them on Report Stage when they see the Government amendments. We can address them in the round on that Stage.