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

Nevertheless, it is important to be fair and I accept the points that have been made. We want the best quality builds and I fully understand what modern methods of construction, MMCs, are. I have visited many very good producers throughout the country, as I am sure many of the Deputies will also have done. There is a significant opportunity for us to scale it up and, I hope, we can point to what works well. Unless they travel throughout the country and visit different areas, people will not necessarily know where a product came from, that is, whether it was traditional build, as some people call it, off-site construction or MMC. That affords us an opportunity.

On approval processes, we are pushing hard on the single-stage process and more local authorities are now using it. I have visited every local authority area. As for the approval for these specific schemes, we are looking at a shorter process for approval. The outside assistance that will be given will be very strong on building standards. I will take on board the point Deputy O’Callaghan raised and I will do what he suggested because we have to set up such a group. That said, I want it to be efficient and expeditious. I am not saying we should rush it, but it has to be efficiently delivered. Some of these schemes will have been designed previously to deliver homes, but that could have been ten or 15 years ago, and they will need to be redesigned, potentially even in the case of some of the layouts and so on.

We will actually do that. We will certainly happily work with people to ensure we provide that update to Deputies and the best way to do it is through the Oireachtas joint committee.

There was a query as to why other State-owned land is involved. There may be opportunities there. The Housing Agency has its land fund now but we work with other State agencies on the transfer of lands. I mentioned the example of Teagasc and others know that HSE lands that may require a financial contribution or purchase. That will not be used in the debt write-down fund. However, I think we should have the provisions available for other lands that the State owns where we can actually activate those lands and deliver that quicker. The first focus will be very much on the 38 sites I have mentioned. However, there are others with other State agencies that Deputies will know in their constituencies. We are engaging with other State agencies and Departments to get that land developed. The LDA is doing that in some instances. In smaller places that might be outside the LDA, we have opportunities to do that ourselves and I want to have that option available, be it local authority land or State-owned land. The Bill clearly defines what falls under the category of State-owned land.

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