Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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To get back to the point, the representatives of NAMA stated very clearly that whereas some of those houses were in unfinished estates, they were being offered in a finished state. In other words, the agency would finish them. I am concerned that local authorities do not have the commitment to build what they need to. I acknowledge that the county managers or chief executive officers will be met regularly. There are major issues in this area. In the past, the National Building Agency designed for local authorities, put schemes together and the local authority built the structures. I do not know where that agency is now - perhaps it is in heaven - but it was a very good body, designing very fine housing that worked. As the Minister stated, it supplied expertise to the local authority.

There is also the question of encouraging private enterprise to get involved. I stated at earlier sessions that there is much money out there in pension funds, including in countries like Canada, ready to invest in long-term albeit not very high returns. What can we do to attract more of that money? If there is a guaranteed demand and we can give them the rents they need to meet the expenditure, significant progress could be made.

My next point concerns the build-to-lease programme. If we ask private developers to build to lease, I presume it would be off the Government balance sheet if a private contractor builds houses and leases them to the local authority, with tenants paying their rent. Is that a model that should be considered? The Minister is correct in wanting to build 35,000 units every year, but it will not happen unless we get other people into the market.

I welcome the Minister's point about planning reviews, but local authorities have infill sites and much land in bits and pieces in towns, cities and the countryside. State companies like CIE and Bord na Móna have landbanks and God knows where they are. I understand the Government is doing an inventory of these. When will that be to hand? We will have to use hard bargaining to ensure that if they are in the right place, those sites will come into public supply. I can give the example of Gormanstown Army camp in County Meath, which has approximately 200 acres. There was a proposal some years ago to take on 60 acres of that for housing but it never happened. There is land in places like Gormanstown, which has infrastructure like the motorway and railways. It has reasonable proximity to towns and good public transport. We must ensure all the land in public ownership in significantly located areas is released to supply our need.

I have a couple of other points.