Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Many of us will be putting forward amendments to the Land Development Agency Bill 2021 when it comes to the Seanad. There have been some very good and constructive suggestions in that regard, including in terms of concerns around its provisions relating to section 183 of the Local Government Act 2001. I expect we will see very positive amendments, including some that are driven by backbench Members of the parties in government who recognise the problems with the provisions.

Although I have huge concerns about the LDA, I have not proposed to delete the line in the Bill before us today, relating to the role of the agency, which amendment No. 3 seeks to do. While this is not my amendment, I do not oppose it and I have put forward amendments, which we will discuss presently, where I seek to add conditionalities in terms of the role of the LDA. There may well end up being a role for the LDA but there are real imbalances of power in the way it currently operates. I am signalling that while I do not oppose this particular line of the Bill at this point, there must be an indication that there will not be a blank cheque and that brakes and conditionalities will be applied. My position is that it is not good enough to have, say, 100 houses that are affordable out of a development of 800 houses on public land. That is not a good deal. There is a requirement and onus on us to get the best possible deal, especially when we have the strongest hand. When we come to debate the Land Development Agency Bill 2021, I will be looking at provisions such as those relating to section 183 of the 2001 Act.

As Senator Casey said, it is really important that all planning arrangements are approved by local authority members and follow their vision. When we come to Senator Fitzpatrick's amendment, I recognise the idea that the vision of local authorities needs to take precedence. One of the major concerns I have about the LDA is that it may fast-track past the vision for local planning of communities brought forward by local authorities, the vision not just of their executive and staff, but their members.I am really conscious all this is taking place in the context of new local development plans being developed right across the country and those local development plans are ultimately the responsibility of local authority members. The members set out their vision and it will be really important they are able to identify in those plans not just what must be done on affordable housing, but that they identify the best way for it to be delivered. Part of that may be by direct build. With absolute due respect to the executives who were cited and referenced earlier, we know that historically there was quite a role for local authority executives in deciding to pull out of the rental role local authorities used to play. That had a very damaging impact on security of rent for many people. As such, with absolute respect to them, it is actually not their call, it will be the call of local authorities in their vision. There will absolutely be many situations where the local authority directly building, maybe in partnership with others, may be the better solution. Thus the Land Development Agency is not the only answer. I am concerned it is being presented as a vehicle that is doing things local authorities could not do when it is a vehicle doing things local authorities were not allowed to do, in many cases. Local authorities should have been supported to access the financing when they wished to buy back on that open market we heard about earlier, when prices were extraordinarily low, when they were on the floor. Local authorities which wanted to buy were told they could not and that they had to lease instead until the market had reinflated. This, therefore, is a really delicate issue.

With respect to people saying that we must look at the Bill in front of us, I agree we must. We will try to amend the Land Development Agency Bill but that is why I and others have amendments to this Bill. We are doing so in order to prepare the ground for the Land Development Agency legislation when it comes. I am not opposing the inclusion of the Land Development Agency but I will mark that the fact that I am not opposing its inclusion here does not mean I regard it as a blank cheque and does not mean that if the Land Development Agency is not sufficiently reformed and caveated and contained within local authority vision that I will not oppose it at a later point.