Bill passed giving new housing quango powers to develop State lands

The controversial Land Development Agency Bill which gives statutory power to a new quango to develop significant housing projects on land owned by the State has been passed by the Seanad by 26 votes to nine after its earlier passage through the Dáil.

The agency, established in advance of receiving formal statutory authority, has powers to create and maintain a register of “relevant public land” that can be made available for housing. It can acquire State land through getting first refusal on a proposed sale of land.

But it can also initiate compulsory purchases of State lands across the country that it deems suitable for housing. Part of its remit includes the provision of housing on a cost rental basis, a new model of housing supply introduced by Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien.

The agency will also ensure the implementation of the provisions that all developments must include 10 per cent social housing and 10 per cent affordable housing.

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During the final Seanad debate on the Bill Independent Senator Victor Boyhan raised one of the most controversial elements of the legislation, the removal of the so-called reserve function of councillors to have a veto or control over the disposal of local authority lands.

Mr Boyhan said “the system has served the country and local councils well” and councillors had huge knowledge.

He reiterated their concerns and complaints about the Bill that it “amounted to a land grab and a power grab that repeated the 20-year-pattern of the weakening of local government”.

Fianna Fáil Senator Mary Fitzpatrick highlighted the pressure on local councillors who "have been the ones who have tried to bridge the gap between the executive and the local communities".

But she acknowledged the powers they had been given under the Affordable Homes Bill to develop social and affordable housing.

Green Party Senator Vincent P Martin said the veto was "one of the few last vestiges of real power" for councillors. "It and perhaps the power of rezoning are the twin biggest powers left that councillors have."

Mr O’Brien insisted the Government “is putting councils back at the centre” of delivering social and affordable homes by “giving them the biggest budget in the history of the State”.

He said the revised Bill was brought forward “in the interest of using State lands productively for the provision of homes for our people” with the aim of at least 33,000 homes a year. This year about 20,000 will be built.