Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chair and I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise this important issue. As the Acting Chair said, NESC, which is a social partnership body, has underlined how the LDA will be a game-changer in tackling our housing crisis. As outlined by the Acting Chair and as many in the House will know, it can act as a State developer and will confront much of the dysfunctional, private developer-led development that has scarred some of this country. It will do that by assembling lands in strategic areas, purchasing lands strategically and using State lands. It will master plan compact sustainable urban development in these areas, break the hold of hoarders who have held much of the land and kept the land price too high, blend public and private finance so we get efficiency of cost delivery at scale and consult affordability head on.

These are important benefits that it can unleash. However, its potential will be killed at source if we continue to see the ideological, hard-left policy position that was exposed recently in the refusal of Dublin City Council to allow a development at Oscar Traynor Road to go ahead. That would comprise 853 badly needed homes for the community in that area. The reason they insist on turning that away is they do not want integrated development on public lands. I profoundly disagree. We need integrated development. Where we have had single-type development, even in our own area, it has not been successful. Look at the Ballymun flats, which had to be pulled down, or Darndale, which had to be radically transformed within 20 years of its construction. They also refuse to recognise that the State must seek to support everyone who needs homes: those who want to acquire affordable homes and buy a home for themselves, those who want cost rental, those who want private homes and those who want social housing.

The Oscar Traynor Road project was exemplary in the approach taken. It was a master plan developed in the four years since 2016. It would have ensured the provision of well-deserved facilities, including childcare facilities, public parks, retail opportunities and so on. The Oscar Traynor Road site adjoins a school. The plan involved a balanced mix, with 30% social housing, 20% affordable housing for purchase, 25% cost rental and 25% private housing.

In a transparent attempt almost two days after the decision was made, Sinn Féin sought to justify what happened by putting forward a misrepresentation of the comparative cost of direct build by Dublin City Council and the approach taken in respect of Oscar Traynor Road. The reality is that developing by means of direct build would have been €80,000 more expensive if done by the city council than under the programme developed in the master plan. That was available to all the councillors at the time but there was an attempt to muddy the waters.

We need to see the process relating to the LDA being accelerated. The LDA can be transformative but it must cater to all needs and break the problem of affordable purchase for many people. I ask the Minister to sit down with the NESC and discuss how the LDA can achieve its potential. It is a balanced social partnership and it recognises that some of the approach advocated by left-wing parties will undermine its value.

See this speech in context