Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the witnesses for coming here today. I was with the Cathaoirleach on the visit to the site in Shanganagh and I congratulate everybody at the LDA. It is great to see the progress. The quality of the build and the development is really impressive and hugely encouraging. It is exactly what we all imagined the LDA would be delivering when we passed the legislation.

In terms of the LDA's presentation at the committee today, while recognising the quantum shift from delivering 1,000 homes in the first five years to getting to 14,000 homes in the next four years, which is really welcome, if we are honest about it, the target should be 14,000 homes every year. That is the kind of quantum increase in social and affordable homes we need to see and is what the LDA was set up to deliver, namely, the right type of housing in the right places at the right time.

When I look at Dublin city and specifically Dublin Central, I congratulate the LDA on establishing the registry of State-owned lands, as it is helpful for us to understand where the land banks are. Mr. Coleman's opening statement mentioned the 83 sites with the potential for almost 70,000 homes. I looked again at the sites in Dublin Central and he called it out as a barrier to moving forward. I could get into a debate about the five-to-six year timeline. The State should be in a position to reduce that by 36 months. Laws were passed in order that social and affordable homes could bypass planning. Everybody in the country understands there is a housing emergency. There should not be objections to social and affordable homes on State-owned lands in particular. They are public assets and the lands should be used to deliver the housing that is desperately needed. As for these State-owned sites in Dublin Central, they are owned by Dublin City Council, Dublin Bus, CIÉ, the ESB and Dublin Port. Am I to understand that they are prevaricating? Am I to understand that they are delaying the delivery of social and affordable homes in Dublin Central? That is my first question.