Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am proud and pleased for the Minister. He made it his a personal mission to get this legislation through. We made a commitment that it would be passed. I was a late addition to the housing committee. I sat through much of the debate on this Bill and noted the time the Minister gave to debate with us and Opposition Members throughout the committee hearings. At all times, he was courteous and took on board opinions. That is reflected in many aspects of the legislation that will frame the LDA.

The LDA is, as Deputy Canney said, not a panacea. However, it is one in a suite of legislative tools the Minister is bringing before this House and, alongside the Affordable Housing Bill, will be a key plank in addressing the single biggest issue in this country at the moment, namely, affordable housing. Many Deputies have said this will not work or do the things it says on the tin but if one speaks to executives and senior management in local authorities and city councils across the country they will say the one thing they needed to address the housing crisis was a land development agency.

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It may not suit some people ideologically or suit the agendas of particular political parties, but this Bill has one aim, and it is not to further the needs and aspirations of the Fianna Fáil Party. This Bill is singular in its aim, that being, to address the housing crisis. We take no pride in the fact there is a housing crisis, but we are singular in our determine to address it and make housing affordable. The one thing that will underpin our performance in government will not be what goes wrong but our successful resolution of the housing crisis in time.

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