Mr. Paul Hogan:

In preparing this measure, we looked at the Kenny report and its considerations. It proposed something a bit more direct. The Kenny report was of its time and this is a different situation. We are not talking about the early 1970s when all the development plans the Deputy has mentioned were first put in place. We need to focus now on both greenfield and brownfield sites, where there is a multiplicity of ownership. The reality is that a balance is required. We need to work with all types of developers. One of the concerns is that the more the State gets involved, the more it ties up land and makes it unavailable for private sector developers who would otherwise develop it. One of the issues the Kenny report examined was when money was made available through Dublin Corporation in the late 1960s and early 1970s to acquire land for this purpose. That starved developers of opportunities to build and it could not be recycled quickly enough by the State to deliver as required. It had an unintended consequence, despite the best of intentions. Things have moved on considerably. We cannot propose something we know could not be delivered or that would not realise the intended objectives. It would not achieve what we want to achieve.