Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter and I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Fleming, for coming to the House from the Department of Finance to discuss what I think is a really important issue. I refer to the need for the Minister to make a statement on NAMA-controlled lands estimated at 426 ha with planning permission for housing and zoned residential use sufficient to build at least 20,000 new homes. I wish to put on the record of the House that these figures were provided by the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, in response to a parliamentary question tabled by Deputy Ó Broin in the Dáil. The response indicates that some 63 acres of land under NAMA control with the potential for 2,745 housing units have planning permission. That is a significant figure, and it is alarming to some extent, given that we have a housing crisis, but also given the role of NAMA and its connection with the State. The reply suggests that South Dublin County Council has the largest parcel of land, comprising 15 ha, enough to accommodate 817 housing units. I wish to acknowledge Deputy Ó Broin for raising this issue. He is on the housing committee with me.

NAMA controls all of this land for approximately 20,000 houses. That is really significant at a time when we have a housing crisis. However, when one drills down into the figures relating to this landbank and its potential for housing development, one sees the majority of it is located in the areas of the four Dublin councils, namely, Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council, South Dublin County Council and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. On top of that, there is Kildare County Council and Meath County Council. It is significant. To provide some figures in this regard: Dublin City Council has 94 ha with the potential for 7,400 housing units; Fingal County Council has 136 ha of land with the potential for 4,751 residential units; Kildare County Council has 370 ha with the potential for 1,340 housing units; Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, where I live, has 7 ha with the potential for 720 housing units; and Wexford County Council has 15 ha with the potential for 436 residential units. That is an exceptional amount of land. There are other areas too.

NAMA was created by the Government in 2009 to alleviate the pressures on Irish banks. It did this by taking €74 billion of risky property loans off the hands of the five banks, namely, AIB, Bank of Ireland, the Educational Building Society, the famous Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide. What a mess those banks left and what a legacy and difficulty the then Government had. It had no option. I am not suggesting NAMA did not do the right thing or was not the right move. It was the right move. In fairness to NAMA, it has managed its portfolio and assets on behalf of the State exceptionally well. There is sometimes a failure to acknowledge the significance of NAMA and the importance of its role. We should remember that the financial banking crisis resulted from excessive, and in many cases inappropriate, lending for the property sector. I refer to the history of the crisis within the banks.There is also their connection to the property sector, greedy and excessive development and excessive borrowing for development to make vast profits. We should now look at the assets and resources in NAMA and use these assets to address what is a national housing crisis, particularly in the Dublin region and in Kildare and Meath where there seems to be a block of this land. I am very happy the Minister of State has come to the House. I hope he will shed light on this. It is an important issue on which we and the public need to know more about.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for raising this issue. The issue of housing and NAMA is always a matter for discussion and should regularly be discussed in the Seanad and Dáil Éireann. As the Senator rightly said, the taxpayer heavily invested in bailing out the banks originally. As a preamble, the five banks the Senator mentioned that were bailed out and whose commercial loans were transferred to NAMA included Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, which were subsequently liquidated by the State and the Houses of the Oireachtas some time ago.

I want to clarify that the majority of the remaining land secured to NAMA does not have planning permission for housing and much of it is not currently suitable for residential development. It is important that the commentary regarding the amount of residential units that NAMA can deliver is fully cognisant of the factual position regarding NAMA's remaining portfolio and the restrictions under which the agency operates.

I am advised that NAMA debtors and receivers own an estimated 489 ha of land that is potentially suitable for residential development in Ireland between now and 2035. There is quite a time period involved in which all this could take place. At present, 63 ha of this land is under construction or has funding approved for construction. Of the remaining land, 63 ha have planning permission and planning applications have been lodged in respect of 26 ha. The remaining 337 ha do not yet have planning permission.

NAMA is not hoarding land. Since inception, NAMA debtors and receivers have sold or refinanced approximately 5,500 ha of residential zoned land with potential for 86,000 residential units, representing 71% of NAMA's original secured land bank. However, the majority of this land did not have zoning or planning permission for housing. Furthermore, NAMA is progressing delivery of residential units on all sites where it can, and has already facilitated the delivery of 22,500 new homes. Many of the sites in NAMA's portfolio are simply not suitable for residential development at present owing to a lack of appropriate planning, zoning or essential infrastructure and services such as roads, water, sewerage and utilities. The new taxes being introduced in the Finance Bill, which we discussed yesterday, deal with sites that have planning permission and are serviced and are capable of being built on. A site with appropriate zoning may not have planning or services. There may be no water or sewerage services and Irish Water may not be in a position to provide them in the short term. Just because there is land in NAMA does not mean it is suitable for residential development in the short term. Some of it may never be suitable for residential development.

Of the approximately 22,000 units which NAMA has identified for residential delivery between now and 2035, there are 1,500 units under construction or with funding approved for construction and 1,200 units which have been granted planning permission for which NAMA funding is under consideration. A further 1,500 units have been granted planning permission and will be sold or refinanced by NAMA debtors. There are 3,900 units in the planning system, with planning either lodged or being prepared.

The remaining land, with long-term potential of delivering 11,700 units have infrastructural needs, such as roads, water and sewerage, which will need to be addressed by local authorities and Irish Water. Accordingly, much of the delivery potential of the remaining portfolio can only occur over the medium to long term. Recognising this, NAMA aims to advance sites through the planning system to maximise the number of sites that are ready for future development.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for what was a comprehensive statement that has shone a light on many of the issues I have raised. I find it helpful. Clearly we have a housing crisis. Clearly we are not operating in a silo. We need to work together. There are challenges with land and for the 31 local authorities. There is potential for the Land Development Agency to look at some of this or to work and collaborate with people involved in this land. We must always remember what NAMA was set up for. I understand it is leveraging its assets versus available land. The Minister of State made a very valid point in summing up on Irish Water. We now see as a regular occurrence the frustration and difficulties people have in rolling out development land for housing because of Irish Water.

There are 31 local authorities. There is the Land Development Agency. There is NAMA and there is Irish Water. They are all in the mix. We should be banging their heads together and trying to realise the potential to deliver homes, be they social, affordable or shared equity. Whatever the model, we need homes for our people. I know the Minister of State is a champion of this. I thank him for his comprehensive response.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for his remarks. It is also important to state that commercial viability is becoming more challenging for developers throughout the sector. Some sites that have planning permission in place are not viable to build on, and this is especially true for certain apartment blocks. Under NAMA's legislation, commercial viability is the most important and relevant factor for NAMA-funded residential development. This basically means that NAMA can only finance developments that are expected to yield a profit. It was given a commercial mandate by this House, this Parliament and the European Commission on the strict basis that it would be a time-limited project. This is why we were allowed to take the loans off the banks in the first place.

The Senator is aware that what are often referred to as "NAMA land" or "NAMA properties" are not owned by NAMA. NAMA owns only the loans. The Senator is fully aware of this and I do not need to point it out. Some people think NAMA owns the land and can do what it likes. It only has ownership of the loans on those sites. NAMA has been successful in achieving its mandate and ultimately it will have a commercial return of €4.2 billion for the taxpayer, together with the delivery of all of the houses. We would all love to see it done more quickly but there are physical problems with services, infrastructure and commercial viability, and NAMA is determined to do everything it can to complete its mandate by the end of 2025, which has been approved by the European Commission.