Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It is completely unacceptable that the Government has allocated only three hours for almost 100 amendments to be taken and to use the guillotine in this way. This Bill deserves proper scrutiny, engagement and oversight.

It is quite appropriate we are starting with amendments looking for proper scrutiny, accountability and oversight. The key flaw in this Bill is that it leaves much up to the Minister by way of regulation. For example, there is no definition of "affordability" in this Bill. It is an affordable housing Bill that does not define affordability so we do not know what the Government might do. We have heard media reports about market discounts rather than basing this on affordability which is linked to income, for example. This is all missing from the Bill, which is designed so a range of these areas is governed via regulation.

I have major concerns about this because we can see the influence of lobbyists on the drawing up of housing and planning legislation over recent years. It has been a total disaster in strategic housing development legislation. We have academic research on the role played by lobbyists, who had their policies implemented in the legislation lock, stock and barrel. We know the track record of previous Ministers on this. Regardless of who is the Minister, he or she should not have that level of ability without democratic oversight to set such regulations. It creates a scenario where different Ministers from different governments can go in different directions. It creates a position where we do not have any kind of democratic oversight, which is very problematic.

My concern is that by giving so much power to the Minister and in looking at other provisions in the Bill, we are looking at a range of measures. We can see it with the shared equity scheme, which is being lobbied for, when the independent analysis is it will push up house prices. My concern is we will have a range of measures, including these regulations, that will do the opposite of what the Title of the Bill implies and make housing less rather than more affordable.

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