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

I will say this to the Deputy. I sat through the vast bulk of the Committee Stage debate on this Bill. No one criticised Sinn Féin for the number of amendments it tabled. The Deputy did not want to table any this time; that is fine. That is his own choice. Deputy Gould and his housing spokesperson decided not to table amendments on Report Stage. That is fine. Deputy Boyd Barrett did and I am addressing those amendments. I have addressed in some detail why I will not accept them. I say to Deputy Boyd Barrett, however, that there is a fundamental difference. I want a Land Development Agency that builds and plans to build homes on State-owned land. It will not usurp the local authority. The Deputy made reference to Shanganagh, which will deliver hundreds of homes. This is where Deputy Boyd Barrett's local authority is working in partnership with the Land Development Agency. No land was transferred over to it in that; it is a partnership approach.

Deputy O'Callaghan raised a good point, which needs to be addressed. He made a reasonable point, unlike some others that have been made, with regard to land assembly. I remind Deputy O'Callaghan that any State agency that sells land will have to offer that to the Land Development Agency first. I want the LDA to get on with and deliver on the initial nine sites it has. Before this year is out, however, I would expect it to have significantly more land to develop.

Finally, I will respond to a comment made by the main Opposition spokesman on housing, who bemoaned the fact there will only be €1.25 billion worth of Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, funding plus an equivalent in borrowing of €1.25 billion. Here is a guy who actually does not even want us to build anything so what is the point? Deputy Ó Broin cannot have it both ways. If he wanted to change it, he should have tabled amendments to it.

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