Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like Senator Moynihan, I welcome the Minister of State. Senator Moynihan said she is almost tired of seeing the Minister of State and the senior Minister in the House. That is reflective of the Government's commitment to addressing issues around housing. Senator Garvey pointed out well the broad range of issues. We are talking about legislation that will unlock unused public lands for housing, an affordable rental scheme and a council-led affordable purchase scheme. All of this is combined with the highest social housing budget in the history of the State. That shows clearly that the Government is strongly committed to addressing the housing issue.

I read with interest the interview published this morning in The Currency with Ed Brophy, the recently retired special adviser to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe. The interview was conducted by Stephen Kinsella. He talked about how the incrementalism of Government is often a problem in terms of decisions being taken. In this case and for this Government, there is clearly a whole-of-government approach to housing. It is an issue we want to see addressed and the reason my party went into Government. My party has a strong tradition of wanting to build homes and communities. Unlike some Opposition parties, we support the aspiration of an individual to own his or her own home. That continues to be important.

Senator Higgins's criticisms reminded me of the phrase once ascribed to Garret FitzGerald: "That's fine in practice, but will it work in theory?" Too often, there is an obsession around ideology. Our obsession in this House should be about mechanisms to ensure we combine the best of the public and private sectors to deliver homes and communities.

I say to Senator Warfield that we all want to see public homes build on public lands but the best thing the Senator can do is encourage his Sinn Féin colleagues on local councils, including most recently in Bray, to stop opposing the building of social housing. It is another example of ideological talk in these Chambers and failure to deliver on local authorities across the country. I agree with Senator Moynihan about trusting our local councillors. I trust them. I know that Government, particularly Fianna Fáil, councillors want to see homes built. We are working in government to put in place the mechanisms, including through the Land Development Agency Bill, for this to happen. Our councillors at local level are voting to provide it. We are not being hypocrites in this regard.

There are a couple of things the Minister of State might consider during the course of the legislation. The membership of the board of the agency and knowledge of the type of individuals that go on the board is dealt with in section 16(6). The Minister of State might consider adding the word "design", so it is not just the knowledge of construction, the market and so on but also of design. Part of the problem we often have in large-scale development of housing is a lack of emphasis on design. Senator Moynihan is right that we are not just designing housing but communities. Frequently, when we see trouble arise in estates, it is because of poor design at the start. As the Land Development Agency starts to grow, I would love to see it have an experienced team of architects to advise local authorities and so on. We need a clear design function on it. I welcome the commitment to investing in research in that area.There are clear mechanisms. It is important the Land Development Agency is accountable to the Oireachtas. It could be considered that a number of members of the board would come through an appointments process set out by the Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Such an arrangement exists in other areas, including, as Senator Warfield and I know, with regard to appointments to the board of RTÉ and BAI. That is done through the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media. We could consider looking at a number of appointments to the board coming through the Oireachtas committee. I commend the legislation. It is part of an overall package of work the Government is committed to bringing forward. I ask the Minister of State to consider that greater emphasis be placed on the design of these estates.