Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

With recent developments and new policy commitments on housing, are there plans to review what the Government has put down in the programme for Government in respect of housing? Things may have changed. The Government is obviously going to make an announcement on a package that has been agreed at Cabinet today. Will the Government be changing the commitments on housing that it has written into the programme for Government?

It is reported by Simon Carswell in The Irish Timestoday that the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, is about to sell 69 apartments in Malahide to a UK investment fund. Does the Taoiseach agree with this? Are there plans to ensure apartments like these can also be offered to first-time buyers or to older people who are downsizing? Is it Government policy now that apartments should be rented and not owner-occupied? What is it going to do in this area?

The Business Postreported that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is about to lease an estate of 39 homes over 25 years at €2,500 per month. Local councillors were not even told about the deal. What is the Government's view and position on this? Does this apply to other deals? My colleague, Councillor Martha Fanning, had no idea about this even though she is the chairperson of the housing policy committee.

My final question relates to Project Ireland 2040 and the planning framework. We have gone through the Covid-19 period and hopefully we are coming out of it. It has been the biggest disruptor our country will ever see. Project Ireland 2040 will surely have to be rewritten. Our priorities have changed. Surely there will have to be a refocus on it. The process by which the planning framework is working in county development plans is going to become one of the biggest headaches the Government has ever had to deal with. What does the Government propose to do on that? There are serious issues coming down the line as to the restrictions and the profiling that will have to go on in many county development plans because of the way in which this has been interpreted and implemented. I can tell the House it is going to be a problem.

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