Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 6 October 2020
36. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will ensure that public land is reserved for the building of public housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28326/20]
View answerI presume the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, will take this question. This is the same question that Deputy Joan Collins asked a moment ago. I am somewhat bemused by the answer, which seemed to be saying the Government was for public homes on public land. The Government is gaslighting us. It is not building public homes on public land. It is proceeding to privatise public land and hand it over to private developers. That is what is actually happening. A little honesty would help in having a debate on this issue.
Did Deputy Murphy ever vote for a development plan?
He was never a councillor.
It is clear what the Government is doing.
I thank the Ceann Comhairle and Deputy Murphy for his question. As I pointed out earlier, it is key that the Land Development Agency is developing a model of housing which is social, affordable and cost-rental housing. From the applications that have been received by the LDA, actions speak louder than words. For example, the matrix for the applications in Shanganagh and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is that 34% are for social housing, 51% are for cost-rental and 15% are for affordable purchase. The work we have to do in the Department is to deliver those schemes now to ensure there is sustainable housing and an increase in supply for social tenants and that this supply is on public land. The kernel of the Land Development Agency's role is to deliver that.
We must also prioritise the legislation to place the Land Development Agency on a statutory footing and ensure that this work is prioritised and carried out. As I pointed out, there are currently nine sites under the control of the LDA on which it aims to deliver 3,600 homes. The agency is partnering with a number of local authorities and working with them on the ground to ensure we make the best possible use of public land to deliver public homes. The legislation will make clear the tasks the Land Development Agency will carry out to ensure we have sustainable tenancies in future for our citizens. I look forward to working with every Deputy in the House to achieve that.
The truth is that what the Minister of State has put forward is some public homes on some public land with the rest of it to be used for private homes. That is what the Government is doing. To take the example of the Oscar Traynor Road site, 50% of the houses on the site will be fully private homes on the open market, a further portion will be affordable, although they will not be affordable, and 30% will be social housing. Of 500 homes in Killinarden, 100 will be fully private. We have a housing crisis in this State. The public, through the State, owns a limited amount of land. The cheapest way by far to provide public housing to address the housing crisis is for the State to build on that land. Every single piece of land that the Government gives over to private developers is land that will not be used for public housing. The Government should commit to building public homes on public land instead of pursuing the continuation of a process of privatisation pursued by the previous Government.
It is important to note that on the Shanganagh Castle site, which predates the Land Development Agency, we do not know if the purchase homes will be affordable because the LDA does not yet have a purchase price for them. The LDA has told Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council that the rental units will cost €1,300 a month, which is not affordable for many of the cohorts. On the Central Mental Hospital site in Dundrum, the original proposition for the LDA was that 60% of the homes would be sold at open market prices. If the Minister of State is saying that is no longer possible and that all the sites in which the LDA is involved will be solely social affordable rental and purchase homes, that would be a big shift and one that many of us may welcome. Let us remember, however, that in O’Devaney Gardens, which is a Dublin City Council rather than an LDA site, 50% of the homes will sell at prices of approximately €470,000. The so-called affordable homes will be sold for €310,000, plus an equity stake of €50,000, which amounts to €360,000. That is not affordable. I hear what the Minister of State is saying and we will judge the legislation when we see it, but we have developments today where public land is being used for unaffordable open market price houses and allegedly affordable homes that are unaffordable. That is a problem not just for our voters but for the voters of all of the parties in government as well.
From reading the programme for Government, the delivery mechanism of the Land Development Agency is very clear. It will be through mixed tenure of social, affordable and cost-rental housing. That is the mechanism that will be employed and the legislation that will come through the House will make very clear that no privatisation of the LDA will be allowed. It will be very transparent in how it does its business. There are nine sites in the agency initially, with the explicit objective of delivering 3,600 homes. As I mentioned, when one looks through the planning process one can see the action on the ground through various applications. In the case of the application for 597 homes I mentioned, it is very clear that these homes will be available to people who will qualify for affordable, cost-rental and social homes. This will ensure there will be increased supply in the area in question and secure tenancies for our citizens.
Can I have a simple answer, please? Is the Government committing to having zero private, open market houses built on all of the LDA sites? If that is the case, I will welcome it but I do not think it is the case and I will be very surprised if it is. That is the only way the Minister of State can say the Government will build public homes on public land. Even within the framework of the programme for Government, the Government talks about providing homes for affordable purchase through the LDA, in other words, selling off housing on public land. Useful information was published recently by Orla Hegarty outlining that the cheapest way by far to provide housing to address the public housing crisis is for the State to do it on public land. It costs less than €250,000 to build a quality home on public land versus a much higher cost of giving the public land to private developers and then buying a portion of that back to be used as social housing.
It is absolutely not the only way. I made that very clear when I spoke about the sites in the ownership of the LDA and cited the example of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council.
In Columb Barracks, in my town of Mullingar, the Land Development Agency, LDA, has taken over a site which will be the mechanism to deliver social and affordable housing to the town at an increased level. It is key that we deliver that through the State agency to ensure that mixed tenancies are delivered for people through social and affordable homes. I gave the clear example through that planning application of the make-up of the various homes in the scheme. It is key that the Land Development Agency increases supply, gets those 6,300 homes from those initial line sites on the ground and ensures that we have-----
On all the line sites.
I have given a very clear example in terms of the planning application that was submitted for Wicklow. I gave another clear example in my town.
Does the Deputy oppose the supply of 597 homes?
We have to be very clear. The Deputy can try to shout people down but the key point I am making-----
I am not trying to shout down the Minister of State. It is just-----
No. Please, do not interrupt the Minister of State.
Does the Deputy oppose the provision of 597 homes?
The Minister should not interrupt the Minister of State either.
I have given a clear example where 597 homes will be delivered in that matrix by the Land Development Agency, and it will continue to do such good work.
