Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 March 2021
84. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the outcome for an area (details supplied) under the proposed Land Development Agency Bill 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13693/21]
View answerThe Land Development Agency (LDA) was established on an interim basis in September 2018, by way of an Establishment Order made under the Local Government Services (Corporate Bodies) Act 1971, pending the enactment of the Land Development Agency Bill.
Under Section 51 of the Land Development Agency Bill 2021, where a relevant public body is seeking to dispose of land located in population centres over 10,000 it must offer it for sale to the LDA in the first instance. The LDA will assess whether the land being offered is of use to it for its own purposes and will determine whether it wishes to purchase the land for development.
Section 14 of the Bill also provides that the LDA will provide services to local authorities, when requested by the local authority, in order to assist them in the development of large scale multi-tenure sites for housing and urban development in population centres over 30,000. This will assist with the construction of increased affordable and social housing on local authority owned sites.
In relation to the sites detailed, in the first instance it is a matter for local authorities to bring forward viable and appropriate development proposals. It is also a matter for each local authority to manage its own finances in a prudent and sustainable manner. In this context, the Housing Finance Agency works with individual local authorities to find the most efficient way of dealing with each authority's outstanding loans.
