Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Together with the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, I signed the establishment order for the Land Development Agency, LDA, on 13 September 2018. It will act as a new commercial State body to actively manage the development of public lands. The establishment order is an initial and enabling measure to get the LDA up and running as quickly as possible, ahead of the provision of a more comprehensive primary legislative basis for the agency and its intended scope of powers and operations. Work is already under way on this legislation and I expect to have the general scheme of the Bill ready for submission to the Government in early November. This will seek approval for the detailed drafting of the legislation which will then be taken forward urgently so that a Bill can be published and brought before the Houses as early as possible in the new year, with the aim of securing enactment of the legislation by Easter 2019.

The LDA has been established with three staff members initially, rising to five in the coming weeks and increasing progressively thereafter, in line with a business plan and the expansion of its development lands portfolio. As is common in agency start-ups of this kind, I have appointed a chief executive on an interim basis. The filling of this position on a permanent basis will be subject to open competition and advertisement upon enactment of the primary legislation for the agency.

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