Mr. Tom Dunne:

I did not understand that to be the Land Development Agency's only function. That would be its major function but it will clearly have a role in supporting local authorities that are not well supported or resourced with the kinds of professionals needed for residential development. That is also an important part of the function of the Land Development Agency. Its functions are not as narrow as the sense of them I may have given.

The State will have land, from various sources, which it may not need. Something needs to be done about it and it is important that the State has a credible agency that understands how to manage land and pass it through its various functions in order for it to become a resource that is available to developers and builders to build on. That is what I saw this agency doing. I did not see the function of this agency as stockpiling land and it should not be doing that. Stockpiling land is just parking a resource that should be used for some more immediate purpose. If an agency such as this gets into stockpiling land, the scheme will have gone entirely wrong.