Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister also outlined the depreciation value.

I welcome Part 4 of the Bill, one aspect of which broadens the local authority development plans to include the prevention of adverse effects on existing amenities, urban blight and decay, anti-social behaviour and a shortage of habitable houses. That will serve every citizen.

Section 29 amends section 48 of the 2000 Act. That is where a new development contribution scheme is adopted by a planning authority to provide for reduced development contribution levies. That is important because every councillor will be looking at that in terms of the development contribution. It is to kickstart development to ensure it is affordable and can produce houses, which is the aim of the Bill, and that it will be retrospective in terms of existing planning permissions that have yet to be activated. In Dublin, for example, housing could be supplied by way of existing planning permissions not yet activated, and this section will kickstart that. Also, where there are unsold housing units in a development, the new lower development levies will be applied to make it economically viable. That is important because we cannot always use the stick; there has to be a carrot also, particularly in the situation in which we find ourselves.

The Minister said he was aware of the recommendation from the Joint Committee on the Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht, of which I am a member. It is nice to know we were listened to in terms of the statutory provisions relating to affordable housing, which were to be scrapped but which can be reactivated, and I presume they will be, by ministerial order.