Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 July 2018
69. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation if consideration has been given to using part of the land bank held by the IDA to provide for housing, childcare facilities or other community facilities in view of the number of new companies locating here and the lack of housing; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30601/18]
View answerThis question is about the land bank held by the IDA. Has the Minister consulted the IDA on the use of some of that land for the provision of housing and childcare and other community facilities in light of the increased number of companies locating in Ireland and the current lack of housing throughout the State?
The Government is fully committed to increasing the supply of affordable and quality housing and in this regard published the Rebuilding Ireland action plan, which includes financing measures, new construction and rental sector improvements. These steps will ensure Irish people are better able to buy and rent suitable homes. They will also serve to reinforce our national infrastructure in terms of its capacity to accommodate FDI.
Significant progress has already been made on the Rebuilding Ireland plan. The CSO has confirmed that more than 18,000 new homes were made available for use last year, of which 2,500 were vacant homes brought back in to use, 1,000 were unfinished homes and 14,500 were newly built homes occupied for the first time.
There was a 45% increase in new builds year on year and we expect further strong growth this year again. The Government has also taken other actions to increase the supply of housing, such as removing the capital gains tax incentive to retain residential land and increasing the penalties relating to land hoarding.
The Government rightly intends to use the broader State landbank for the development of further housing and community facilities. In 2017, the Government identified 30 publicly-owned sites. The Deputy can view these on the Rebuilding Ireland housing land map. Last week, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, attended the housing summit and asked local authorities to consider, in terms of the delivery of housing, State-owned sites in their areas that are strategically important for them. The Minister will be working with those authorities on the active management and utilisation of the wider public landbank to contribute to key housing and planning policies such as securing more compact and sustainable growth. This may include engagement with IDA Ireland and other State bodies.
I thank the Minister of State for his answer. Obviously, I am disappointed that the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has not spoken to IDA Ireland about this matter. There is an opportunity to use some of this landbank. I do not need to explain to the Minister of State the current situation regarding housing. We are all aware of what is happening. At constituency clinics, Deputies are inundated with questions on the matter. The Taoiseach said this morning that every time he has a meeting with a company, a key issue that arises is the lack of affordable housing for people coming here looking for jobs. Some 10,000 people across the State are homeless and hundreds of thousands of people are paying rents they cannot afford. Rents are at an all-time high. Hundreds of thousands of others have their hopes of buying or renting homes dashed because of house price increases.
Based on these well-worn statistics and considering that IDA Ireland has more than 2,700 acres lying vacant, would it not be fair and just to carry out an audit to see if some of this land could be used for housing or essential services? I agree that foreign direct investment is a very important part of our economy and I fully support it, but so too is housing our people.
As regard specific lands owned by the IDA Ireland - I have met its representatives on a number of occasions particularly in the south east - it remains important that the agency has a supply of available sites that can be offered to firms considering making job-rich investments in Ireland. Regarding contacts with IDA Ireland, based on my knowledge of the region I represent, there is no doubt that IDA Ireland works closely with city and county councils to ensure its property acquisitions are in line with local area, county and city development plans. IDA Ireland-owned sites are never left intentionally idle or vacant. In fact, from my experience the opposite is the case. IDA Ireland is doing everything it possibly can to showcase these properties to investors and to convince them to locate there.
There are pressures on sites and so on, but there are two issues that arise. The Deputy rightly mentioned contacts with IDA Ireland. I firmly believe that the regional and local areas are aware of the landbanks that are available and the housing needs in those areas. They consistently communicate with IDA Ireland. The Government has an objective to develop foreign direct investment and locate big companies outside Dublin and the major cities, in areas where IDA Ireland has landbanks. It would be regressive if some of the locally-held IDA Ireland land was not available if foreign companies came to regions looking to set up there.
I understand how the landbanks work and the strategic need for them. I am just asking for an audit of them. Some of the land might be able to be used for the social and affordable housing, community facilities and crèches we will need. The Industrial Development (Amendment) Bill 2018 will come before the Dáil this evening. We will be supporting the Bill for some of the reasons the Minister of State has outlined and to ensure we do whatever we can to bring foreign direct investment into the country.
I appreciate that the availability of an adequate supply of marketable serviced land and buildings in advance of demand is a key element in IDA Ireland's ability to compete for mobile foreign direct investment and it is very successful in that. However, the housing crisis is very severe. Recently, Amazon announced 1,000 extra jobs for Dublin. Those jobs are very welcome. Although this is great news, the reality is that daft.ie today is showing only 2,813 properties available to rent in all of County Dublin. Where will these workers live? Prices look set to continue to rise. People are being forced out of their homes by massive rents and the Government's reliance on the market is not working. Despite all the numbers the Minister of State might quote, it is simply not working for people looking for rental properties. The Government must do much more to provide places for citizens to live. It is time to carry out an audit of land that could be used for other purposes.
The national regeneration development agency will have a role in respect of land for social and affordable housing delivery. The idea is to bring together relevant Departments and agencies in order to unlock the potential for State landbanks and to ensure the best allocation for funding.
I return to the development plans set in all areas and regions. They deal with landbanks that are available from all agencies. If the Deputy logs on to the web page, he can select by county, town, land address and hectares available. I can send him the details for his area and all the areas in Ireland, which shows the land available. Contrary to what the indications are it may look substantial but it would be a failure on our behalf with the economy growing and the long-term development of our economy that we would not have substantial landbanks available for multinational foreign direct investment companies and other companies that might want to set up in regional areas. They Deputy is correct that there is a balance in making landbanks available for housing and making landbanks available for jobs in particular areas of the country.
