Land Development Agency
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-23
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Naoise Ó Muirí (FG), Dublin Bay North

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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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-23