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

The provision of social and affordable housing has been an absolute priority for myself and any future government will bring forward its housing plan in relation to delivery. For the first time, every local authority has exact targets and plans for all tenures of housing and that will be carried forward. There is the implementation of Government plans and the investment that is required to be able to build that footprint. There are other pieces of legislation that also interact with it. I will speak specifically on the Bill in a moment but first I will refer to the Affordable Housing Act as an example. There is also the Land Development Agency Act which is for State land. In Dublin and Cork it is 100% social and affordable. Those were changes that I made to the LDA Bill, which is enacted. Part V provisions are now in Part 7 of this Bill in relation to the social and affordable housing requirement.

Specifically related to ensuring there is a thread through the Bill itself, on page 403, section 219(4)(d) provides that a planning authority shall "have regard to relevant policies or objectives for the time being of the Government or any Minister of the Government, and any National Planning Statement, that relate to housing or social integration in the provision of housing services". In fact, section 219(1) provides that "Prior to making a development plan under Part 3, a planning authority shall prepare a strategy". On page 404, sections 219(6)(a) to 219(6)(c), inclusive, set out the position clearly. Section 219(6)(a) provides that the strategy will include "housing for the purposes of the provision of social housing support within the meaning of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009". Section 219(6)(b) refers to "housing for eligible applicants within the meaning of Part 2 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021". I remind members that the Affordable Housing Act, which was introduced by this Government, was the first time any Government ever legislated for affordable housing. Section 219(6)(c) refers to "cost rental dwellings within the meaning of Part 3 of the Affordable Housing Act 2021". I know we have moved between sections there. I appreciate the point made by Deputy Boyd Barrett but it is more than appropriately covered in the Bill. When it is enacted, it will make clear how affordable and social housing will interact with the preparation of the national planning statements, housing strategies and supply under Part 7 of this Bill. I appreciate that we have not got to section 219 yet. I am sure we can go through it in a lot of detail when we get to it.