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

I thank the Deputies. I will try to address some of the questions that have been raised.

First, Deputy Ó Broin has asked about the type of scale or delivery of the additionality. We do not have the exact figures yet because we are still doing the surveys but there are approximately 38 sites in the €100 million fund that we have established. They are not in every single local authority area. Deputy Nash in particular referenced Louth, and there will be others.

I speak to chief executives in every local authority every single week. I have held a series of housing summits with them, as I do regularly with their directors of services, so I do not say this anecdotally. This is just factual. There are no surprises within the measures that have been brought forward here. One of the big asks by local authorities since I was appointed was to deal with this issue of legacy debt and to release land out, and that has taken some time.

On the option we are giving to focus on modern methods of construction, and I will turn to some of Deputy O’Callaghan’s points in a moment, we are not using enough off-site construction in the country. I have seen some local authorities doing it pretty well, such as our own in Fingal County Council. In Limerick, many of the infill sites in the Moyross regeneration were delivered using off-site construction. I visited many of the off-site construction companies and that capacity is building up. The Deputy referenced timber frame. Approximately 48% of new builds, both public and private, are now timber frame. It should be more, but the State is lagging behind in its delivery of that. This is a matter of putting a specific focus on modern methods of construction and off-site construction, including timber frame and some more concrete poured and steel frame. We must look at all the various things available and try to harness them to see what additional delivery can come about. This scheme is being prepared and in terms of surveys of the lands, we are talking about 38 different sites. We will provide external assistance to local authorities by way of procurement and design.

Using MMC, as the Deputies opposite have referenced, will help us in delivering more quickly. There are efficiencies there. I am confident the firms I visited and the ones the local authorities will engage with produce the highest quality of work. I note the points the Deputy raised about schools that have had issues, but there is an opportunity in the sector. With some skills shortages in some parts, there is a move to bring about those efficiencies. This is not just in delivering things quicker but also in being environmentally more sustainable. As the Deputy said, much lower carbon delivery of housing is better. We should do this because we have the products available here in Ireland. Part of the measures in this Bill are intended to give that specific focus in the development of these lands.

Deputy Nash raised points earlier and I will try to cover them. I am not suspending Part 8s. If Part 8s are going through or if there are other things moving through the system, they will continue. I have read into the record the strict criteria around how a local authority scheme would use this provision we are debating. This is clear in the criteria I have read into the record. In the amendments, and Deputy O’Callaghan has referred to this, Members will see what the term “housing development” will include. There is a full list, including “the construction or erection of a house or houses ... the construction of a new road or the widening or realignment of an existing road” among others. I will not read them all through, but Deputies can see we are not just talking about dropping houses into a field. They are properly designed. I regularly travel across the country to view the developments we are delivering now, and they are top quality developments. They are well designed, extremely well built, and the vast bulk of them are A2 rated. They are well designed within communities and there is a good use of infill. There are good regeneration projects under way also. We are talking about trying something new and putting a focus on something new. That will unleash lands, some of which have been vacant for decades. We will be able to point the local authorities in a specific direction so that the debt write-down on those lands will allow those lands to be developed further. This can be underpinned by an efficient use of a time-bound planning measure to expedite the delivery of those homes. I am focused on them, but not exclusively on them. We have 38 sites, and we will seek to activate even half of them within the next year to 18 months. We are concluding surveys on them, so I am not being evasive in relation to numbers. Deputy Ó Broin and others will understand that we have to work on design layout, density and those types of factors. That work has been ongoing for number of weeks now.

I am trying to see if there is anything additional off site. A Deputy said this is like window dressing. It may perhaps have been Deputy Nash or it may have been Deputy O’Callaghan. It sounds like Deputy O'Callaghan's language. I assure him it is not window dressing. Deputies should trust me on this that all of us want to deliver additionality. The projections into next year are good even with the challenges we have. Effectively, this is an opportunity for us to build additional capacity within the sector. I have outlined the rationale for it. I have tabled the amendments and I think they are appropriate to it. They are time bound as well.

Deputy Ó Broin asked about where someone was to come with a site in mid-2024, for example, to access it. We are clear that we are looking at commencement before the end of December 2024. If we could activate a significant portion if not all of the sites we know are there already - we would like to activate all of them, but I cannot say all of them will definitely be within that timeframe - that would deliver significant additionality above and beyond what is being done already. That is why I want to provide the assistance to the local authorities through external supports to help manage these processes.

On public consultation, and this is very important, it should be remembered that the chief executives have said of proposed developments that plans and particulars would be provided to elected members of the local authority specifically to enable consultation on the proposals as well as giving public notice and enabling public inspection. Let us also remember very clearly, and I am not responsible for media reports or what the media report on things, that this is zoned land. Deputy Ó Broin is probably more responsible for that-----

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