Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I raise with the Leader today the matter of the Land Development Agency established by the Government in September 2018. It falls under the remit and is the direct responsibility of the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. We need to see as soon as possible the general heads of a scheme of legislation to underpin the establishment of the agency which will deal with vast amounts of public land and millions of euro of public money. There are huge issues around how this will be structured. Is it going to be a commercial entity? What about accountability and who will have responsibility for the transparency and oversight of the agency which will engage in vast landbank deals and land exchanges with private developers? We have always spoken of accountability and transparency and this agency has the potential to create a toxic mix for Ireland if we do not get it right. While I welcome the establishment of the agency in principle, we need the legislation to underpin it. Therefore, I ask the Leader to arrange a statement from the Minister in the House on the scheme and an indicative timeframe for legislation in the hope that at some stage we will see a Bill to give legislative effect to the proposal.

I understand the report of the Charleton commission may be published today or tomorrow. The Leader will recall I gave a robust defence here of the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Fitzgerald, while she was still in office. I stand over that and printed off the contribution for reference today. I look forward to having the commission's report before the House for a debate at the earliest convenience, this week or, certainly, the week after. I hope the report exonerates Deputy Fitzgerald who was, in effect, hounded out of office by certain politicians who wanted a head on a plate and blood on the walls. I am not a personal ambassador for her but I saw a wrong at the time and articulated it. I read again today what many people in the House and the Lower House said about her. If the report exonerates her, I hope they will take the opportunity to come back, man up and acknowledge that they did a wrong. No one from any party or none should be hounded from office until due process is complete. Mr. Justice Charleton will, I am glad to say, have done his work and we will have his report. Let us make our call and judgment on that work. As such, I appeal to the Leader to arrange as soon as practically possible to have the commission's report before the House for a frank and open debate.