Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Before the debate adjourned, I spoke about the question of cost-rental. Many Members who spoke before me pointed out the significant gaps in this Bill as well as the dangers inherited from the gutting of local democracy to the huge reliance on the private market to deliver.

In addition to that, I want to highlight one section which alarms me. It is typical of the gap between the Minister's rhetoric and what is actually in the Bill. I am sure he will clarify it later. Section 55, on the disposal of land by the agency itself, means that the agency can, without the consent of the Minister or the Government, dispose of any land or any housing unit it has acquired if it is doing so for the purposes of rent or purchase. However, there is no mention of public housing, social housing, affordable housing or any criteria. It looks to me like a blank cheque for the agency to do as it sees fit and to enter into any arrangement with any entity in order to provide houses. These are not necessarily social or affordable houses. They are just houses. It is in effect a gift to the developer with a few pious declarations thrown in to give it sweeping powers and access to State lands but with no definitive aim to provide housing for the citizens of the State who need it.

I have no doubt that the Minister will dismiss this criticism and claim the agency is governed by the highest ideals and aspirations. If I were to give the benefit of the doubt to the Minister and to the Land Development Agency, I would have to see a board, a chief executive officer, a chair and a panel that has a record of advocating for public housing, as well as fighting the nexus of developers, financiers, legal and landed vested interests which, over the years, has allowed this housing crisis, with which we live, develop.

Who is going to steer the Land Development Agency? Overwhelmingly, it is a cohort deeply embedded in the very firms, companies and sectors which have sat at the top of society overseeing and helping this entire housing crisis. From Mr. Austerity himself to various personnel from legal firms enmeshed in the developer-led building industry to ex-NAMA officials and so on. One high-ranking official is on record as saying that every house is affordable to the person who purchases it. Is that the type of thinking we need in an agency meant to be the solution to our housing crisis?

Are these the high movers who will usher in a new generation of public housing on public land? Are they now, as we speak, thinking of the homeless on our streets, of those in emergency accommodation, of those in unsuitable housing sleeping with their children on a friend's sofa, or with their sisters, doubling up in their mammy's bedroom, or worrying about rent increases when the Covid crisis passes, or of being evicted when level 5 restrictions are lifted, or are they thinking of what will make sense to the real estate investment trusts, REITs, the corporate landlords, the likes of Johnny Ronan, the mates of Johnny Ronan, the financiers, the legal firms and all that they hail from?

I draw on the example of the last wonderful plan that was supposed to get us out of the crisis of housing, that is, the strategic housing developments, SHDs, which the Minister cancelled at Christmas. The Minister gave notice of at least a month to the developers to say we are going to-----

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