Pauline O'Reilly (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

It seems that a lot of the amendments are about removing things. They are about removing open market dwellings from the list of affordability and now removing the LDA. The LDA exists so why not use it? This is not even saying we should dismantle the Land Development Agency, which I could understand from the Senator's ideological point of view. It is actually just saying there is a thing out there we could use, but we should not use it. It seems quite bizarre to me. The Senator may know that the 2020 National Economic and Social Council, NESC, report on housing mentions the LDA as being key to change. It says our housing policy is broken and one of the things we should do is establish cost rental on a statutory basis, which is what we are doing in this Bill. Another thing is to make amendments to Part 5, which we are also doing in this Bill. Another key element is establishing the LDA on a statutory footing as a matter of urgency with an enhanced mandate, including providing land for social housing. Essentially, the Senator is saying he does not want something that would actually provide social housing. I do not understand this at all so I will not be supporting this amendment.