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

I welcome a number of provisions in the Bill but I would like the Minister to indicate the start dates for them. The 50% provision for family purchase in new developments is very welcome, as is the 10% quota for affordable housing. Contrary to others, I welcome the shard equity scheme because it will bring into the market the people who have been locked out because they are just over the income margins and cannot get on the housing ladder. We have to do something special for them. The site subsidy is to be increased to €50,000. I would like to hear the commencement date for all these measures.

I really welcome the commitment by the Minister to seek a 50% increase in resources for the LDA. It is crucial that the agency should have the resources to assemble sites but, in addition, I would like an announcement before the autumn of its plans to deliver capacity for at least 50,000 homes. We need to rattle the cages of the people sitting on substantial sites and planning permissions and this is the way to do it. We also need to see significant land banks developed in the alternative magnets for development outside Dublin, including Cork, Waterford, Galway and Limerick. It is really important that we see those sites and land banks developed.

It is also very important that we remove the logjams in approval, appraisal and tendering that have dogged city councils. The LDA must get through those processes more quickly. That means streamlined tendering and approval mechanisms, not long delays between the Minister's Department and other Departments. It also means ensuring there is a stream of projects in order to facilitate cost-effective building. The reality is that it is too expensive for people to submit to tender and that is ultimately driving up costs.

I say very sincerely to Deputy Boyd Barrett that if he and many others on the left insist that no public land can be used for anything but housing for people on the public lists, we will kill the potential of the LDA. We need a rebalancing in our country of housing development. That means meeting the needs of all types of families, including those in Cork, Galway and all the current pressure zones. If the parties opposite continue to block developments such as that on Oscar Traynor Road, they will kill the potential to fix this problem. Deputy Boyd Barrett may say it is good politics or good ideology to block them but I say it is very bad for the communities that seek to be served.

Finally, we need further innovation in the field of housing provision. We cannot expect first-time buyers to pay for the standard of compact development on brownfield sites that we want for sustainability purposes. There must be a cut in development charges for those people and support from the State for some of the infrastructure. First-time buyers cannot be expected to foot the bill for sustainability for the next 100 years.

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