The Land Development Agency, LDA, is building up a great head of steam now in starting to produce homes at scale all around the country, but particularly in the urban areas where they are badly needed. There are two projects in my area, Clongriffin Central and, just this week, Richmond Village. Some projects the Minister of State will be familiar with in his own area or generally in his neighbourhood are Shanganagh and Dundrum. These are big projects. The planners are saying that apartments are what are required now in terms of the use of land, the intensification of land use, transport-oriented planning, etc., and that is welcome. When I look at the LDA, however, and taking Richmond Village as an example, the tenure mix is not yet hammered out on that development of nearly 800 units. The LDA says it will do it over the next while. Affordable purchase, which is where citizens and families get to own their own homes, is a relatively recent thing for the LDA, as I understand it. The point I want to make is that I would like to see the LDA going with affordable purchase first. There should be a lot more emphasis on affordable purchase, giving people a chance to buy the units the LDA is building. I appreciate they would likely be subsidised based on the cost of these in the context of modern-day construction, but it is absolutely vital that we empower the LDA as much as we can to build quality homes that citizens can then buy in whatever way. Affordable purchase first should perhaps be the strategy for the LDA. I will come back to cost rental because issues with that were mentioned. In my experience, and taking Clongriffin Central as an example, the LDA is not necessarily funded or empowered to deliver community facilities. We have that issue out in Clongriffin Central. An area left underdeveloped and unfinished for 15 years after the crash needs community facilities. The LDA is in there, buzzing along and actively delivering phase after phase of residential units, very welcome homes, but community facilities have to be put in as well. They are vital. I ask that we would look to broaden or maybe re-emphasise the strategy of the LDA towards affordable purchase first as a key part of any of its developments and also look at how it will deliver, and be empowered to fund and deliver, vital community facilities, including community centres, pitches, outdoor parks and all the other facilities that make communities in Dublin so great.

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Quelle surprise.

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As the Minister of State said himself, even the affordable purchase element of the Shanganagh scheme is about 15% of the overall project. We hear about the challenges with cost rental and concerns around mounting maintenance costs. Uncertain costs like that will, of course, upset mandarins in all the various Departments. The benefit of affordable purchase is that whatever discount or subsidy is given, the Government locks it in upfront. It goes to the homeowner, and is crystallised there and then and there is no long-term risk. The Government picks up part of the tab. I do think affordable purchase first should be the direction in which the LDA is headed. Without a doubt, there will be issues with cost rental in the future. They are being raised in the media, with various schemes having challenges with maintenance. In relation to community facilities, local authorities, including Dublin City Council and South Dublin County Council, collect development levies from private development and use those development levy funds to deliver the parks, playgrounds and various community facilities. The LDA does not have that funding stream. It is vital that this is acknowledged by the Government and that the gap is plugged in some way for the LDA. Residential developments are fantastic, but the community facilities have to be provided as well while these projects are being built. I encourage the Minister of State to consider this issue from a Government perspective. I thank him.

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