Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 20

In page 10, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following: “ “cost rental dwellings” means dwellings the rent for which is to be calculated so that it covers only the cost of building (not including the cost of site provision but including the cost of any loans), managing and maintaining the dwellings;”.

The subject of amendment No. 20 was discussed at length during the debate on the Affordable Housing Bill and the battle has been somewhat lost regarding the limited profit associations that operate in Germany and Austria. However, in Germany and Austria, limited profit associations are legislated for in respect of cost-rental accommodation, whereas we do not have that. I do not see why ethical investment firms, as the Government side refers to them, could not already build cost-rental dwellings without the need for legislation and to have a limited return unless public money is provided to them. We discussed this matter previously in the debate on the Affordable Housing Bill and I made my displeasure known at that stage.

Amendment No. 77 seeks to ensure that on the LDA land and the land that the agency takes over from the State, local authorities, the OPW, the Prison Service etc., the provision of housing is 100% public housing, that is, cost rental, affordable, affordable purchase and social.I acknowledge the acceptance by the Minister of amendments in respect of this on Committee Stage in the Dáil. They will affect some of the larger towns, with populations of more than 150,000, namely, Dublin and Cork. There are other cities and towns, however, that are affected by this. As a policy, where the LDA takes over land, it should be exclusively for the delivery of long-term public housing, and that is what amendment No. 77 concerns. It will provide for a number of grades, starting with 20% to 40%, in order that each individual site can be then broken up according to what is appropriate. It is unfortunate that in Limerick, for example, which has a very significant need for social and public housing, potentially 70% of the land available there could be sold on to the private market and private developers and lost by the State forever.

The one amendment I will push is No. 77. I ask that the Government take it on board, although I do not expect it to and I acknowledge the moves it has made in respect of Dublin and Cork. They are too limited and I would prefer the provisions to be applied nationwide and to all lands that operate under the LDA.