Results 9,941-9,960 of 15,312 for speaker:Eoin Ó Broin

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will be brief. The Minister is factually incorrect in claiming that the Government is the largest builder in the State. Last year, fewer than 800 new social houses were directly delivered by the local authorities and a couple of hundred houses were delivered by approved housing bodies. Almost all other housing was purchased from the private sector as turnkeys, public private partnerships...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 41: In page 9, to delete lines 10 to 12.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 45: In page 9, line 15, after “activities” to insert “only in so far as is necessary for the provision of social, affordable and cost rental housing and”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 46: In page 9, to delete lines 18 to 20.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I support all three amendments. I will speak to Deputy Boyd Barrett's amendments first. A really important principle is at play here. One of the great weaknesses of the current affordable housing schemes, as they have been rolled out, obviously prior to the enactment of the affordable housing legislation and the introduction of this legislation, is that where homes are affordable - not...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will comment briefly on Deputy O'Callaghan's amendment. There is a key difference between how some people have been talking about cost rental in the public arena to date and what cost rental actually is. Cost rental is not a discounted market rent. It is not based on purchasing a market price home and setting a rent to repay that. It is based on a mixture of full cost recovery of the...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 25: In page 8, line 24, to delete “market” and substitute “system”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: To correct the Minister, it is in the serviced sites scheme that when ones buys an affordable home, one does not own 100% of the home. If the serviced sites fund grant is about €50,000, the local authority owns about 12% to 15%. That is the scheme and that is what is in front of us. If the property is sold at a later time, that charge has to be repaid to the local authority. It is...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I support Deputy Smith's amendment. I will not repeat the points other than to say we have to have a definition of affordability, particularly affordable rental, which is linked to people's income and ability to pay. I will support any amendment which attempts to do that. I also support Deputy Higgins' amendment in principle because there has been confusion in the public arena around much...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: My clear understanding of the Bill is that these lands are not covered and the LDA does not seek to require them but I fully understand the Deputy's intentions. Perhaps the Minister could address the following. One of the things that has caused confusion across many areas is that the LDA has a geomapping facility on its website that identifies land but the way in which this is presented...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 52: In page 10, line 31, after “may” to insert “, following consultation with the relevant Oireachtas Committee,”. The Minister will remember that when he was on the Opposition benches with the rest of us he used to fight this good fight regularly when the previous Ministers brought forward legislation. The key issue is that there are many...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I am discussing just the first three. I would prefer to speak to amendment No. 54 separately if the Chairman does not mind.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I apologise. It is amendment No. 55 that I wish to discuss separately.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Yes. I apologise. I was confusing two groups of amendments. This is a good example of the Minister going native. It is always very unfortunate when Deputies in opposition argue for the maximum level of Oireachtas oversight and committee participation and then quickly forget those arguments when they go to the Custom House. Given the significance of this agency and the size of the land...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: Given that democracy is never a burden, I am more than happy to press this amendment.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 53: In page 11, line 1, after “may” to insert “, following consultation with the relevant Oireachtas Committee,”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 54: In page 11, line 16, after “may,” to insert “following consultation with the relevant Oireachtas Committee and”.

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I will speak to the full group if that is okay. I warmly welcome all of these amendments. From the very outset I had a genuine concern about the extent to which FOI, but also other provisions of this Bill, fully applied to the subsidiary designated activity companies. As some Members will be aware, the original design of the LDA Bill under the previous Government separated its commercial...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Land Development Agency Bill 2021: Committee Stage (Resumed) (1 Jun 2021)

Eoin Ó Broin: I move amendment No. 57: In page 11, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: “(4)The content of any such direction shall be published in Iris Oifiguil, in at least one national newspaper, and on the websites of the Minister and of the Land Development Agency.” As members will know, we had an important presentation and written submission by the Association of...