Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and I welcome the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, to the House. I have had a chance to look through this legislation on the Land Development Agency. The basic objective of the agency is very good one. I will make a number of observations on it. The Minister will appreciate that I am from the constituency of Limerick City where we have had Limerick regeneration. It was, in way, a form of mini-LDA. From the experience we have had with the Limerick regeneration, I will make a number of observations.

First, it is critical that this is a partnership model between the LDA and the councils. That did not happen with Limerick regeneration and, as a consequence, it was not as successful as one would have liked. It is critical that there are memorandums of understanding, service level agreements and whatever is required to specifically deal with this agency so that there is no area of ambiguity in the interaction between the LDA and the local authorities. We had an incident recently in Limerick where those waters became somewhat muddied and it sent out a signal to me that it is critical that these entities are clearly defined.

Second, section 8 of the legislation states that: "Not later than 31 March 2024, and every 5 years thereafter the Agency shall furnish a report to the Minister regarding progress towards achieving the purposes of this Act." Another section states that the LDA must deliver an annual report to the Minister. These should be linked in. My view is that this should be done on a yearly basis. This is critical, in that it will bring a focus if the LDA is required not only to give an update on the work it has done, but on how it is meeting the objectives in the LDA legislation itself. The Minister may have views on this but this is just an observation of mine.

Third, on the interaction which colleagues have made reference to, the legislation is silent on the role of the elected members on the local authorities. It has come up and I am sure the Minister is well aware of the question of exactly what role they have to play. One of the functions that members of local authorities retain is the reserved function on the approval and disposal of lands. How does that fit into the relationship between the LDA and the local authority? This can be overcome in large measure by the partnership model. The members have to have a role but the Bill is silent on this. It is a question being asked by councillors. Can the Minister shed some light on exactly where that role arises?

I will now speak about the role of the LDA. The primary purpose of the legislation must be about delivering housing.

It has to be about delivering housing in a mixed-use model. Obviously we want some form of cohesion in the number of units but it must be done in a sustainable way. With regard to overconcentration of development, if we have learned anything in Limerick over the years, where we have had huge volumes of housing in one location, it is that it brought its own difficulties for the people living there. Obviously it is about getting houses built but there is a fine line between something being rushed and something being delayed. It is about getting that balance right.

This must be about social housing, which very much links in with local authorities. It also has to be about affordable housing. The Minister is well aware of my views on affordable housing. I liked the traditional model, which was that private estates had 10% affordable housing and 10% social housing. The social housing element has returned but the affordable housing element has not. It was a very good sustainable model and there was no uncertainty. In such a model, people know what is physically going into an estate. It is hugely important that in a housing estate of 200 houses, people know that 20 of them will be affordable to young people. This is something I feel very strongly about. I would prefer this model to having all social or all affordable or all private housing. It is about trying to find an integrated model that people can work with, without overconcentration.

The Bill mentions enabling measures to supply housing. It also mentions making available housing that is not being utilised. The purpose is to counteract undue segregation with regard to social background when housing people. This is about the mix. It states new and regenerated housing should be well served by schools, public transport and public amenities. There has to be interaction with the Department of Transport. The Bill also refers to developing and regenerating relevant public lands for the purpose of delivery. This is very important

If a local authority is progressive and developing housing in a specific land area that it owns, the LDA does not have a role. It has a role where the existing State authorities are not progressive in providing housing. We do not want turf wars about land between the LDA and local authorities. This is why it is critical to set out these lines of demarcation very much within a partnership model. The devil is in the detail with regard to the role of local authorities and elected members.

The Minister speaks about deficiencies in the housing market. There is a concern at present that Covid is leading to an increase in the price of housing. When we come out of Covid, the price of housing will be beyond the capability of some couples. This is why the affordable model has to kick in in a big way as soon as possible. There should be 10% affordable housing in any new estate being built. There is also the more high-powered model of the LDA itself.

The Bill mentions supporting and consolidating the provision of publicly owned lands for development to expedite the most efficient use of such land. This has to come back to the partnership model with the local authorities. Will there be service level agreements or memorandums of understanding between the LDA and collective local authorities or will it be based on individual agreements? How will it work in practice? The last thing we want are issues regarding who exactly owns such lands or who will get to develop them. We do not want in any way stagnation or stand-offs between the LDA and the local authorities.

It makes absolute sense to establish economies of scale and efficiency. The Bill refers to opportunities for the efficient development of contiguous tracts of land. This absolutely makes sense. The Bill mentions commercial activity, including the generation of the funding required by the LDA to perform its functions to achieve the best possible social and economic return consistent with the purposes of the Bill.

If the LDA is disposing of development land it is required to come back to the Minister to seek approval. However, if it is disposing of houses that have been built it is not required to do so. How will this operate in practice? Under section 8 of the Bill, the LDA is to give the Minister a report. The annual report the agency is to give the Minister could be tweaked to link in with section 8 so it would be required to outline in it how it is dealing with the objectives of the legislation rather than having to deliver the first such report in 2024 and every five years thereafter. This is hugely important because everyone believes the purpose of the LDA is good.

I welcome the Bill. I have made these observations based on practical experience from my experience with Limerick regeneration. The relationship between the LDA and the local authorities must be clearly defined with proper memorandums of understanding and proper service level agreements. If a local authority is progressive there will be no role for the LDA. It is there to deal with situations that are not being developed.

It is critical that local authority members have a positive role. Ultimately, we want to build houses to deal with people on housing waiting lists and those who may want to downsize, to provide affordable housing for young people and to make provision for private housing in a way that is sustainable with proper public transport. If the model becomes just about building five-storey or six-storey apartment blocks to increase numbers, it will not be sustainable. The model should be a mix. We need apartments but we also need townhouses and semi-detached houses. We need an integrated model. An overconcentration of any group does not work for society.

We need to define clearly how to determine what is required to be approved by the Minister. Development land being sold must be approved by the Minister but where houses are built approval is not required. Exactly what this means has to be clearly defined so there is no ambiguity. These measures are to ensure we see sustainable development enhancing places such as Limerick city, which I represent. The National Transport Authority will come back to us shortly with a revised Shannon area metropolitan transport strategy, which will link Limerick and Shannon Airport for the first time. It will come back with a model, which was not in the original draft, to set up an urban rail system with the use of existing rail track. This also has to feed into a housing model and an infrastructure model.

We need to move towards a continental housing model. I would like to see the roads going in first, along with public amenities and playgrounds, so that when the houses are built the infrastructure is there.

Too often in the past, large housing complexes were built with no social amenities, and suddenly we are doing catch-up. The LDA, in the context of a structured model, can certainly do an enormous amount of good, not only in terms of building houses, but also ensuring that the infrastructure is in place at the same time the houses are built.

When we come back to this House in a short number of years, Limerick city will have an urban rail system up running, playgrounds and parks beside new housing complexes, links to the city centre allowing people to walk, park and ride facilities and commercial activities. The LDA has a commercial remit so there is the question of who it can partner with and where the role of ministerial approval will fit into that area.

The key feature all of the time is working with a common purpose and ensuring there is no ambiguity around relationships between the councils and the LDA in the partnership model, and ensuring that the elected members of local authorities are made clearly aware of their role in the work they do around the provision of housing and local authority lands that are available in an area. The LDA extends well beyond local authorities and it extends to multiple agencies, which clearly will require service level agreements and memorandums of understanding. These other bodies, in the main, are not involved in the provision of housing, and that is the key common and defining feature of the LDA and the local authorities.

I wish the Minister well with the legislation. What I am pointing out is based on my experience. I think the Minister will accept that regeneration in Limerick is probably the nearest micro-model he will get for the work of the LDA. It would not have all the elements of the LDA but it was a body set up to deal with the regeneration of Limerick city, in particular taking control of the building of housing in the area. At the time, I believe insufficient due diligence was done around defining the relationship and the respective roles of Limerick City and County Council and the regeneration itself. Much good work was done. However, there were elements that could have been avoided and it could have been a more enhanced and successful programme. I know the Minister will take my comments in the spirit in which they are given, which is with the aim of ensuring that when the LDA is up and running, it can go about its purpose without any degree of uncertainty around its remit and its respective relationship with the local authority and its members and the other respective bodies. We will be coming back here with a much more integrated model in a number of years, and we will say that the LDA has been a resounding success.

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