Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank my colleague, Senator Fitzpatrick, for allowing me to take the first slot. Before I launch into the planning side, I am very conscious that when we are not talking about planning or heritage at this committee, we are dealing with housing legislation. In the past three years, we passed a huge volume of housing legislation that, in the main, falls on local authorities and local authority members, as does the complexity of all those schemes. I encourage local authorities to keep delivering on housing. I appreciate the work they do, especially local councillors and local council officials. It is all very well passing legislation but a project only gets off the ground when a council starts to take it up. We have seen from the Housing for All review that some local authorities are doing very well on social and affordable housing, while others may not be doing so well on cost rental. It is different for different areas. I ask local authority members to hold their officials to account because there are plenty of tools now. The toolbox for building houses is full. Everything they can do to put pressure, not that they need it, on their officials is more than welcome.

The Bill is mammoth legislation for us. I cannot imagine how local authority members will have the resources or time to dedicate to it. I acknowledge the fact they are putting themselves forward to represent 31 local authority members. It is a massive task. I will focus on a couple of areas that might be of particular interest. Councillor Fitzpatrick spoke about the ten-year plan. Will he talk to us a little about his concerns regarding it? The Department indicated there will be a review but it seems it will not be possible for councillors to bring forward amendments during that review stage. I am worried about that. We have all seen reviews to the corporate plan, for example, just sit on the shelf and do not make a difference. Will Councillor Fitzpatrick talk to us a little about his concerns around the ten years?