Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak against this group of amendments. There is a fundamental difference between the Opposition and the Government in how we want to deliver homes and what we want the LDA to do. It is clear from Committee Stage that those in opposition want it to be a land amalgamation agency and local authorities to then construct homes on that land. The Government wants all parts of the State firing on all cylinders. Using the Affordable Housing Bill, we want to ensure that councils build social housing and housing for affordable rental and affordable purchase on council land. We want the LDA to build social housing and housing for affordable rental and affordable purchase on its public land. We want approved housing bodies to build social housing and housing for affordable rental and affordable purchase. We want every arm of the State building and developing homes for people, including families. We do not want a quango that amalgamates land. We want an agency that delivers homes. That is a fundamental and important policy difference between the two parts of the House.

I will also speak against these amendments because of an attempt to put in place the narrative that this Government is somehow trying to siphon off homes to developers so that we can fleece the people of Ireland. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked us why we would do that, but I will put the question back to him - why would we do that? The Minister has been clear from the beginning that there has been no attempt to do that. His amendments ensure that in places like Dublin and Cork, we have 100% public housing on public land. They give a legislative basis to what we have talked about, called for, marched for and voted in councils for. Here we are with a Bill that allows for 100% public housing on public land.

This happened because the people of Ireland voted for parties that wanted to ensure a change in the direction of housing policy. It happened because those parties came together to compromise, put together a programme for Government, form a Government and then work on, amend and perfect legislation to deliver for the people who voted for them as well as those who did not. To the people who voted for me, the Minister, Deputy Duffy, Deputy Higgins, Senator Cummins, Senator Fitzpatrick and the many other Members who have worked on this Bill, I say that their vote in February of last year has ensured a change in the direction of housing policy so that we have 100% public housing on public land in those places where it is needed. That is delivering. That is the difference between the Opposition and the Government in this regard. We have a real ambition to deliver homes for people. It is not about siphoning off land to developers. In the words of the Opposition, why would we do that? Instead, it is an attempt by the Minister to ensure that we can deliver homes for people.

The Bill has been described as the Minister taking a second-hand car and giving it a coat of paint. I have heard Deputies in the House acknowledge the changes that he has made to the Bill. Last week, however, Opposition Deputy after Opposition Deputy stood up for his or her little one-minute speaking slot on the extension of tenancy protections and said that this Government was doing nothing for housing. It is time to admit that in the space of 12 months, we have passed substantial legislation on housing and put in place significant tools that will shape public housing policy for the next 30 years. We have put in place tools that councils can use to build affordable homes and mixed communities on their lands. The LDA, approved housing bodies and organisations like Ó Cualann can do the same. It is important that we acknowledge this, as these measures will take some time before they are delivered and the public has to know that a real change was delivered after the message sent at the general election. We are being honest by saying that it will take some time to build the homes because we know that building homes takes time.

I look forward to seeing project after project in my area. I am referring to sites in Kildonan, the multiple sites in Ballymun that make up the Ballymun local area plan, and sites in Whitehall and on Oscar Traynor Road. I am looking forward to seeing homes that people can afford. I am looking forward to people coming to my office and being able to ask me how to apply for the new homes that the Minister, Fianna Fáil and this Government are building. That will be the proof of the pudding.

We have a long way to go. We must ensure that the review of the national development plan reflects the ambition of this Bill, that there is significant investment in housing and that we put our money where our mouth is. We must ensure that councils across the country grab the Bill's ambition and do not allow council officials to delay it. Councillors must drive the delivery of homes, including public housing, and ensure that the sites their councils own are turned from empty sites, which the Minister and I visited many times while Fianna Fáil was in opposition, into building sites and then into communities where people live. We must ensure that council officials realise that there has been a change and that the delivery of housing for affordable purchase has to be the core of what they do. I join my colleagues in saying that local authorities should publish targets for the delivery of housing for affordable purchase on all of their sites.

Communities like Ballymun and Finglas have been let down by previous housing policies because we have not put in place infrastructure, services or mixed income and mixed tenure housing. We must ensure that the projects we deliver benefit these communities. I look forward to the end of the strategic housing development, SHD, legislation, as it bypassed communities. I look forward to us making another change in housing policy, thereby recognising the message that we were given by people in February 2020.

Substantial changes and amendments have been acknowledged but equally opposed by the Opposition. There will be substantial delivery of homes for families and young people with real actions and real results.

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