Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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I will take the next speaking slot.

The two Acts that we passed in 2021, the Affordable Housing Act 2021 and the Land Development Agency Act 2021 are, to me, probably two of the most significant pieces of legislation that have been passed by this Government. It takes time to deliver, and I appreciate that. Sometimes I think people have these massive expectations that we can just build houses overnight in huge numbers. It is borne out of frustration because there is a housing crisis and people want to see affordable housing, whether it is affordable purchase or affordable to rent. They just want housing, and I do not think they are too particular with regard to who supplies that housing or what avenue it comes through, once they have got a safe, secure, comfortable and warm house for them and their family to grow up in. However, there is a reality to it between the planning, tendering, the feasibility, getting the finance together and the boots on the ground. We have a bit of work to do to explain to people why a process takes so long. Often, people say "the planning process". That is planning with a small "p". It is planning the entire thing from start to finish, from concept to turning the key, not the Planning and Development Act 2000 or the system. It is important to clarify that.

The map that was produced is a very important body of work as well. It is something I often refer to. I want to go straight to Project Tosaigh because I am interested in how it works, and the process that is followed on it. In one of these stalled developments, who approaches who? Does somebody ring up the LDA saying, "I have a development here, are you interested?", or does the LDA trawl out there to see what developments are stalled, and whether it could get involved in them?