Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----which would have almost doubled the social and affordable output from the council. It blocked that, despite it being in the pipeline for four years and approved by Sinn Féin members of that council at that stage. Let us get real about where housing strategy is coming from and what we are trying to achieve here.

This is a very innovative policy proposal. Not only does it plan to deliver 48% social and affordable housing, which is unprecedented in the history of the State, but it also brings in a State developer, not a private developer, for the first time. It is the first time we have a State developer, the Land Development Agency. The agency already has access to sites for 26,000 homes, which it will deliver as affordable. Along with others, I want the Minister to drive forward that and ensure there is absolutely no delay with those. Some of those are getting stalled private sector sites moving forward. The reality is that our councils have not been up to this challenge. They have not been able to deliver at scale or at affordability. Now we have a system where a State developer will have access to State land and get that at discount prices so it can deliver affordable prices to people who need them. That is innovation in my book.

In addition, we have land value sharing so in future rezonings we will see a recovery of that for the State and for communities. There is a cities fund to reach out to young families who are now living in high-density areas, which is very expensive, and to make it affordable for them. CPOs on vacant premises will be supported with a State fund. There will be a tax on vacant homes. There will be a unit in the Department of the Taoiseach to drive forward this, so we will not see Departments scattered around the State blocking the capacity of this plan to deliver. I believe this should be welcomed. I also welcome the move in the fair deal scheme.

The fair deal scheme has locked down homes because of the rules of that scheme. Now they are being changed.

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