Seanad debates

Friday, 18 June 2021

Affordable Housing Bill 2021: Report and Final Stages

 

9:30 am

Photo of Alice-Mary HigginsAlice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

With amendment No. 2, I am suggesting that we include public-public partnerships in the different kinds of arrangements that might be made. These may be partnerships between a housing authority and a State body or another public body, or, in some cases, they may be partnerships between different public bodies such as two local authorities or housing authorities developing something in co-operation. Some of this issue has been addressed by Senator Warfield's amendment on co-operatives and so on, which was accepted by the Government. Perhaps the not-for-profit aspect has been addressed by that. This is going to be a key question because in the changed fiscal situation, public financing is often easier to access, is more accessible and affordable than private financing. While there is an emphasis on public-private partnerships, in the next two or three years there will be a change in our fiscal rules and access to financing, both at European level and more widely, and we will have opportunities for ambitious collaboration between public bodies at local and national level, as well as State bodies. I wanted to formally include them in the picture. Perhaps if my amendment cannot be incorporated at this point, it could be included when the Bill goes through the Dáil.

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