Dáil debates

Wednesday, 18 January 2023

Statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform

 

6:15 pm

Photo of Mick BarryMick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Land Development Agency is one of the most important State agencies in the State's history. This is because it was set up in the middle of the greatest housing crisis in the history of the State and has the wherewithal to make a real difference in that crisis. However, instead or pursuing an aggressive policy of building public houses on public land, it is instead tending to organise a major programme of land privatisation. Who is steering the ship? The LDA has a five-person board. One of the board members is Michael Stone, who was appointed in 2019 by Fine Gael Minister, Eoghan Murphy. Michael Stone is a member of the ruling class. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is a representative of the ruling class. This is how ruling class power works - there are a thousand threads between big business and its political representatives. In this case, the big employer picks up the tab for the Minister's posters, the Government, of which Fine Gael is a part, appoints Michael Stone to the LDA, the agency steers a course towards privatisation, the housing crisis continues and working class people suffer. Time will tell whether the Minister will have to resign but that is how the system works and the system is rotten.

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