Seanad debates

Friday, 28 May 2021

Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Committee Stage

 

9:30 am

Photo of Malcolm ByrneMalcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I strongly support the amendment proposed by my colleague, Senator Fitzpatrick. I agree with much of Senator Boyhan's contribution, particularly on the need for expertise to be provided. Indeed, I hope that over time the LDA will have some of that expertise and offer it directly to local authorities. I hope it will provide that advice to elected members as well. Senator Pauline O'Reilly was right when she said we can debate this legislation back and forth but what matters to the people outside of these Houses is to be able to get the key into their hand so they have somewhere they can call home. That is what they want, regardless of whether it is a social house, an affordable house, their own premises or a cost-rental premises. We can pass the excellent Bill before us, we can pass the LDA Bill and we can change lots of regulations but is only when we start to see housing being delivered that it will matter. There is no point in us going out of these Houses and saying we have just enacted this wonderful Bill and it is great. That is not going to put a roof over anybody's head.

The test is to empower local authorities and ensure they use their powers. That is what this legislation is doing and what this amendment does. We must have a very clear measurement of what success is. We must know in every local authority area and at national level how many units are going to be built, how many will be available and when they will be available. I am conscious that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is going to be calling in the chief executives of the local authorities. It is all very well for the Minister to tell them to go on, get out there and do their work, but the important thing is that measurable targets are set out for each local authority area in order that we can see at a national level which of them are performing well. I favour league tables of local authorities because when one can see which authorities are doing well, one can ask the questions. This will also mean that councillors, or at least those who are interested in having homes built, will be able to hold their chief executives to account and ask why one authority is performing better than another.

The other benefit of this approach is that we may identify problems or difficulties that emerge in the system. A target may be set but something at a local level may prevent a local authority from reaching that target. It is important there is a two-way feedback process. If problems are identified in a certain local authority, it is important that they are fed back into the Custom House and that there is a response. This is not just about this Bill and the LDA; it is also about aligning every other aspect of State activity to ensure we have houses delivered. That includes Irish Water, EirGrid and connections to the electricity sector. It certainly includes speeding up decisions at An Bord Pleanála, which can cause significant delays in getting a lot of our homes built. In the measuring these targets, we must have ways of feeding issues back into government to address some concerns. If builders are able to identify specific problems or challenges at local level, it is equally important that those concerns are fed back. I have a bit of a problem with the talk we keep hearing about developers and so on. That is a bizarre term in many ways. Most of these people are builders. The local construction companies that operate in all of our communities want to get out there and build homes. When a target is set out, local builders may come back and say they are not going to be able to meet it locally because there is a problem with Irish Water and its connections or because the local authority is not giving sufficient priority to certain issues. In those circumstances, that feedback must be taken into account.

It is very encouraging that we have a full suite of measures - I know some people hate that phrase - with regard to legislation and everything else. However, that makes absolutely no difference to the individuals and couples we all know who are striving to get roofs over their heads. I ask the Minister of State to accept the principle of this. When he comes back into this House over the coming years, he will be asked regularly whether we are reaching the targets coming in under this legislation.We want to empower local councillors to ask their chief executive if the local authority is reaching its targets and if not, why not? When problems arise, that must be communicated to the Custom House and the Department must respond.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.