Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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Mr. Cussen made an interesting point. We do not want to lock up public lands only for one segment of society which, I suggest, is what is happening currently. Let us look at the 60:30:10 mix of tenure. The average market price in a private development in Dublin today is €378,000. The proposal before us is for 60% of public land to be used to facilitate private development with prices in that ballpark, varying from city to city. Some 30% would be affordable. There is ambiguity around the affordability scheme indicated by the Minister in the budget speech and we are hoping for more detail on that soon. However, if one does the maths around what the Minister indicated in the Budget Statement, one is looking at an average of €50,000 less than market price for "affordable". That is €378,000 minus €50,000 in Dublin which means there are houses that could be in the scheme which cost over €300,000. The segment of society which cannot afford that, which does not only include young people coming out of college but also workers on the average wage, are effectively being locked out of the housing market. The locked out generation is a term that I am hearing increasingly often. According to the Central Statistics Office, the last census showed there are 500,000 young people living at home with their parents. Sure, some of them want to be there but I suspect large numbers would far prefer to be buying, renting or living independently. We do not want to lock up public lands for only one segment of society but that is precisely what is happening now: it is for people who have big money or are affluent, and the majority are locked out. This is a tremendous opportunity to turn that on its head and reverse it.

Look at the amount of public lands in the State, even the land already zoned residential. The housing analyst Mr. Mel Reynolds has indicated that between the public authorities and NAMA there is enough to build 114,000 public houses. That would put one hell of a dent in the housing crisis if we said that public housing went on public lands, by which I refer to a mix of council housing and genuinely affordable housing that is not done through developers but through the State hiring builders and selling the houses at cost price or thereabouts. A tremendous opportunity is there. The concern is that the Land Development Agency's remit points in an opposite direction and what we are looking at is not something like the ESB or Aer Lingus, as the Taoiseach said, which are State companies that did the State some service, but a new agency which oversees privatisation of land on a large scale for houses mainly built at market rates and are therefore unaffordable, or houses built according to the Government's affordable housing scheme which are also unaffordable for many. This is maintaining and copperfastening a position where large numbers of people are locked out of the housing market.

The Land Development Agency will assemble lands which are currently in State ownership, such as the health service, the ESB, Bord Gáis Energy, but also acquire some lands from the private sector. What is the mix likely to be? Is it overwhelmingly lands that are currently in State ownership, which is what seems to be the case? The intention is to release these lands for housing development, but what kind? Is it the case, as it seems, that the majority will deal with developers for 60:30:10, mainly private market housing developments, or will there be a significant level of arrangements with local authorities, and if so how much, where they have a say in the use of those lands and can use it for genuinely social and affordable housing? Unless that is the overwhelming thrust of this scheme, we are looking at privatisation on a large scale and a continuation of the majority being locked out of the housing market.