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

I thank the Deputies and particularly Deputy Duffy for tabling the amendment. I will address the amendments, but I sometimes find with Deputy Cian O'Callaghan that if I had a Social Democrats party policy document, turned it into legislation and brought it to the House, he would find something wrong with it and have a concern about it because it was me bringing it forward. We have to look at the facts of what I am bringing forward. We are introducing cost rental for the first time and legislating for it. As Deputy McAuliffe rightly asked, is everything going to be perfect as we go along? I think not. Nothing is perfect, but the reason we are looking at regulations on foot of this legislation is that if we need to change it as we go forward, we will do that. This is not about Deputy Cian O'Callaghan, me, Deputy Ó Broin or any other Member. This is about endeavouring to make a real difference for the tens of thousands of people who are caught in an unaffordability trap and the tens of thousands who are stuck with unaffordable rents and to give them real options that are going to work. That is why it is important.

While some may bemoan the fact that there is a short three hours for this element of the debate, there was extensive pre-legislative scrutiny which was facilitated and well stewarded by the chairperson of the committee, Deputy Matthews. The committee participated in that and there were even votes throughout the pre-legislative scrutiny. It was so well scrutinised that, if one had a suspicious mind like some of the Opposition Deputies, one could think it may have been done simply to delay the passage of the Affordable Housing Bill. We and our colleagues in Fine Gael and the Green Party want to ensure this legislation is passed before the summer recess so the schemes will be up and running, people can be in affordable homes this year and we have proof of concept. That may not suit some. It genuinely might not suit the political narrative of some to see an affordable housing scheme that is actually working. That is fine. However, this debate should not be about me or Deputies Ó Broin, Cian O'Callaghan, Duffy and Boyd Barrett. I ask Members to think about who this is really about, which is the citizen who wants a safe and secure home.

As we go through the remainder of this debate, I ask some of the Deputies to try to look at the positive elements of this legislation and the effective change it is going to make. Is absolutely everything in this going to work 100% from day one? No, absolutely not. Is it going to make a difference? It absolutely will. If we have to change it in the future, we will come back to it. Resolving affordability and bringing forward affordable housing do not have a one-size-fits-all approach and cannot be done by way of a silver-bullet policy. That is why we spent a solid year on this legislation. Yes, we have looked at other models. We have looked at other jurisdictions to see where certain purchase schemes work well, where cost-rental schemes work well and where they do not work so well. However, from the get-go and even before the publication of this legislation, the main Opposition spokesperson and his colleague in the Social Democrats have tried to use every opportunity to undermine parts of the Bill, without even seeing a scheme published. In a very short space of time, we will see this up and running and see people in affordable homes. Frankly, that is something all of us should welcome.

I want to see progress on affordability, on homelessness and on delivering public homes on public land. In the Land Development Agency Bill, which was mentioned by Deputies Lahart and Duffy, we have made very significant changes to the previous general scheme that was published and did not come to the Dáil, whereby there is 100% affordable and social homes in the two main cities and an affordability threshold of 50% minimum. These are radical changes that will have a lasting positive impact on what we are doing. This Government is determined to tackle and solve the problems, not to get one up on Deputy Cian O'Callaghan, Deputy Ó Broin or anybody else. I am happy to take criticism all day long, but Members should be constructive and support the legislation because it will make a difference.

Speaking about supporting legislation and looking at other matters, the amendments tabled by Deputies Duffy and Matthews are very helpful, as was an amendment tabled by Sinn Féin in the Seanad, which I accepted, to allow housing authorities to enter arrangements with co-operatives, community housing trusts and other not-for-profit bodies to make dwellings available for affordable dwelling purchase arrangements. This added such bodies to approved housing bodies, the Land Development Agency and public private partnerships. While the principle of my Green Party colleagues' amendment is accepted, it was made clear that it would have to be slightly refined and reviewed to ensure it was legally sound. We have done that and I am now bringing forward further amendments, although Members may not have seen them in the grouping, including amendment No. 9. I am bringing forward this amendment to replace that provision with "arrangements with a community-led housing organisation, a housing cooperative or a community land trust". The amendment is brought forward following consultation with my colleagues and Deputies Duffy and Matthews. I am also proposing the inclusion of a new subsection (3) in this section which allows the Minister to prescribe "minimum requirements in relation to governance, previous experience, financial management and financial reporting" to be met by such organisations, housing co-operatives and community land trusts. That is very important as well. We want to ensure that in any interaction with these community organisations they have the requisite experience, financial management know-how and financial reporting.

These revised provisions have been drafted after consideration by my officials and in consultation with the Housing Agency and the Office of the Attorney General. I am satisfied that the amended provisions will be fit for purpose and appropriately flexible, given the regulation-making power which will enable us to respond to the practicalities of matters arising. The provisions also meet the general objectives of the amendments proposed by my colleagues, which I do not propose to accept. I believe we have covered what they brought forward in the Government amendments, which are good amendments to this important legislative measure.

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