Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have not moved amendment No. 13 yet but I might address some of the points raised on it and also address amendments Nos. 1 to 12. Deputy Boyd Barrett moved all 12 of those amendments and I will address them first. I thank Deputies for taking the time to table amendments and for a comprehensive debate, both on Second and Committee Stages. As the Chairman of the committee, Deputy Matthews, mentioned, we went through 268 or 269 amendments and myself, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, addressed every one of them.

There are still some fundamental differences of approach on the LDA. That is why I could not accept the amendments to the Long Title that have been put forward in amendments Nos. 1 to 12. I do not accept the narrative from some Opposition Deputies that there should be a land development agency that does not build any homes. That is something that has been argued by the main Opposition spokesperson on housing. I do not know whether Deputy Gould has argued that at all but, in general, we need our State-owned land to be utilised productively and we need an agency that will supplement and not supplant the local authorities. I want the local authorities to be the main deliverers of local authority homes and social and affordable homes. That is why I have provided them with more money this year than ever and I have asked them to go out and buy more land to deliver more.

I refer to the points that have been raised. There may have been an issue in that I made some changes to the Bill moving forward. I acknowledge that Deputies in the opposition have also recognised that. I have tried to take on board as many of the valid points that were made on Committee Stage by Members from all parties and none as possible to frame them into legislation that will work. This is a cornerstone Bill that will be in place for years to come. We need an agency that will deliver social and affordable homes, both for purchase and cost rental on State land.

I refer to amendments Nos. 1 to 12, inclusive, and then I will address No. 13 because it is important in the context of our discussions. Amendments Nos. 1 to 12 are tabled by Deputy Boyd Barrett and his colleagues in his grouping, including Deputy Barry. I cannot accept the amendments, which seek to amend the Long Title to reflect other amendments tabled by the Deputies. While I genuinely appreciate the consideration that they have given to this Bill and the detailed amendments they seek to bring, I cannot accept these amendments to the Long Title as they do not reflect the intent of the Bill.

The purpose of the Bill is to establish a land development agency and make appropriate arrangements for the utilisation of relevant public lands for housing. That has to be the fundamental difference and if that is the difference between this Government and many of those in Opposition, I will take that every day of the week. The idea that we would have an agency that does not build homes - and Deputy Ó Broin went even further on Committee Stage and said that it should not even plan to build homes or masterplan - just beggars belief as the Chairman of the committee, Deputy Matthews, said earlier on. Having said that, Deputy Ó Broin is entitled to his view and I respect that while disagreeing with it.

This Bill is not legislating for privately owned land. Levies are in place to activate private and public lands, which can be improved upon, and I want to see that happen. I will consider further measures as appropriate for private land activation. When the State activates a lot of the idle land it has, it will have a dramatic effect. We need to get on and get this agency up and running, get it capitalised and get it building. It is not appropriate to include such references as are in the amendments in the legislation.

The Bill seeks to increase the supply of housing, particularly affordable and social housing, by ensuring that public land that is not being utilised or that is underutilised is made available for housing. That is a simple but important concept. It also provides for the establishment of the LDA as a commercial semi-State body to deliver that housing. It is wholly appropriate that the LDA will be established as a designated activity company under the Companies Act 2014. This is in line with other commercial semi-State bodies that we all know. The Ministers for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Public Expenditure and Reform will be the only shareholders. This will ensure that this body is publicly owned. Regardless of what some Opposition Deputies continue to say, this is a publicly owned, commercial semi-State body that will deliver homes on State-owned land. It is necessary that the LDA has a shareholding as it facilitates €1.25 billion in investment from the Irish Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF. I have not heard anyone argue against that yet but that may come in time.

Under the programme for Government, the LDA is being assigned a key role in housing delivery and will work as an additional resource providing services to assist local authorities in their core role as housing authorities. The committee members may be tired of me saying this but I want to restate that the local authorities will deliver the vast majority of social and affordable homes in this country. The LDA will activate other land that is not being used heretofore. We have provided those local authorities with the funds to do so and we have provided the individual targets per local authority. The LDA will also be a development authority for the relevant public lands and lands owned by the agency. This is appropriate and is in line with the other State bodies that have a development role, such as IDA Ireland or the Grangegorman Development Agency, for example. However, it will not have the full development agency role involving planning powers that the local authorities have and appropriately so. I respectfully state that I cannot accept amendments Nos. 1 to 12, inclusive, and I will address amendment No. 13 when I move that. I thank the Deputies for tabling their amendments and I hope I have addressed them as best I can.

There were many other points raised and it is not that I am ignoring them but they were not relevant to these amendments. I am happy to discuss rural planning, wastewater treatment and the lack thereof and various other issues that we can address on another day. I have noted the Deputies' comments in that regard but I have not been able to address them in the short amount of time I have while speaking to these amendments.

See this speech in context