Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for their contributions. Many different points were raised, all of which are valid. With regard to plans for local authorities and what their SPCs do, I have always been at pains to say that I firmly believe in rebalancing the power between local elected members and the executive in local authorities. We need to empower our councillors and we are certainly trying to do so.

With regard to the amendments of Senators Boyhan and Higgins, I will finish as I started and say that I will not be accepting them, although I understand why the Senators have tabled them. I will briefly explain why I am not accepting them. I oppose them as it is a standard provision that a Minister may make regulations or issue ministerial directions as and when required without prior consultation with an Oireachtas committee. If we were to accept the amendments, we would be doing something completely different. We would be tying the hands of any future Minister, not just mine. Regulations and ministerial directions will be made in accordance with the Bill, which will be enacted following the approval of the Oireachtas. It is normal, as part of the governance of State agencies, that Ministers can issue directions to State agencies. Most of these directions are policy directions and generally relate to the implementation of Government policy. The LDA will be required to comply with any direction issued to it.

Amendments Nos. 23 and 24 seek to insert a new subsection on specific publication arrangements for ministerial directions. I cannot accept these amendments as it is not standard procedure for ministerial directions to be published in such a way. Under section 9, the Minister may give a ministerial direction following review of a report compiled by the LDA and such directions shall be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas and will be freely available for examination.

Senator Fitzpatrick put it well when she mentioned the other checks and balances we are putting in place that were not part of the original general scheme, which has evolved right the way through. I am referring to the general scheme of a Bill in the previous Oireachtas. These measures include the application of legislation on freedom of information and lobbying and reports to the Oireachtas joint committee. All of these appropriate measures now apply to the LDA. However, we do not want to strangle an agency before it gets going. The vast majority of us agree that we need an agency that will deliver homes for our people on underutilised State-owned lands. Senator Buttimer has given us good examples, including examples of where the agency can be transformative in Cork. In many instances, the agency will work in partnership with local authorities to bring their expertise to the development of bigger sites. We need to show delivery and that is why it is important that the agency breaks grounds on its first site this year before speeding up from there so that people can see what it does. As Senator Byrne correctly said, there is work to do in informing people of what the reality of this agency is. We spent a fair bit of time this evening talking about what the agency will never do.It is the responsibility of all legislators to make sure the issues they raise are genuine and that we do not act in a way that leads to any misinformation, misinterpretation or manipulation of the reality of this matter. There is nothing to be feared from this agency. It represents what we should doing, that is, putting our lands to use for the good of our people, particularly in a housing crisis. We are determined and we are making progress. We will see that progress through. I thank the Senators for tabling the amendments. I appreciate their tabling them but I will not be accepting them.