Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have been here since 2011 and things have got worse since then. The one consistency I have seen in the Government's policy in all that time is that it is wedded to the philosophy that the markets will fix it. I have news for the Taoiseach: the markets will not fix it. They do not want to fix it, they actually like it the way it is.

The Government's latest inspiration is the Land Development Agency. The Taoiseach described it as radical. It is the opposite of radical. It is not the ESB or Aer Lingus. It promises to be crony capitalism at its finest. This is the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, mark 2, exactly what we do not need. It is soul destroying that the Government would appoint a former NAMA individual as chief executive officer. That is like getting the fox to mind the chickens.

I will give an example of how crony capitalism works in this country. Avestus is an Irish asset management company which has decided it would like to build residential property. The four directors of Avestus were in NAMA. They had directors' loans worth €350 million. In 2012 NAMA decided to sell the loans to a company registered in Luxembourg for €26 million, a 92% discount. Last week it emerged the Luxembourg company and Avestus share a director, in breach of the NAMA Act 2009. One could not make it up but it gets worse. Avestus has received €25 million from the Irish Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, to develop. We literally allowed this company to buy its loans back for peanuts and now we are funding it to build. Can it be true that the Government wants to use the expertise in NAMA for the Land Development Agency? It wants to do deals with developers to build out State land while they sit on their own land. This is nuts. The developer is looking for a profit margin in the region of €80,000 a unit. Why would the Government want to put money in the developer's pocket? Why did NAMA want to do it? NAMA is funding Gannon Homes to build three-bed semi-detached houses in Millers Glen in Swords. Prices start at €365,000. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government says that is affordable, but affordable for who?

The Government says the Land Development Agency will put downward pressure on land prices. How will it do that? Can the Taoiseach explain that to me? What will put downward pressure on land prices is a 25% tax on land-banking and I hope the Government allows the legislation for that to go through the House with a bit of speed rather than let it collect dust. As for the State land, if the Taoiseach thinks the local authorities are not fit for purpose to supply housing why does the Government not strengthen the local authorities and make them fit for purpose, give them the necessary skilled personnel and let them hire builders, not developers, to build housing that is 100% affordable not 30% and 10%? Why should we allow State land be used to provide a minimum of 60% at a price that is unaffordable to most people? Will the Taoiseach explain why we would do that?

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