Brian Stanley calls to end micromanagement of local authorities
Brian Stanley criticised the micromanagement of local authorities and urged the minister to accelerate housing delivery under the revised National Development Plan. He called for standardised housing plans across the whole 26 counties, low-cost finance for small builders, expanded apprenticeships and direct funding to local authorities for infrastructure and water supply.
The department in the Customs House is micromanaging local authorities, he said, adding that this supervision is increasing costs by 10-15% and slowing delivery. He told the new minister that this approach must stop to speed up social, affordable and cost-rental housing.
He argued the same plans used by the private sector should be replicated for government-sponsored housing so designs for social and affordable homes in Waterford, Leish and Donegal can be reused nationwide. Standardising plans, he said, would reduce time and cost and accelerate construction across the 26 counties.
Brian Stanley emphasised the need to support small builders in rural towns and villages with low-cost finance similar to what larger builders receive. He also called for accelerated apprenticeship programmes to boost capacity in local construction.
He urged direct funding to local authorities to address infrastructure deficits, particularly water supply, citing small towns such as Mount Melich, Mount Trat, Ratdownie, Grey Cullen, Ballyline, Port Arnick and Abbey Leaks. He noted many of these towns are connected by rail and argued investment in local infrastructure would facilitate quicker housing delivery.
He recalled that the constituency counterpart created Irish water, naming Phil Hogan, and said he had argued with him at the time when Irish water was established. That history, he suggested, underlines the challenges of addressing water infrastructure through centralised structures rather than local control.
Micromanagement of local authorities
The department in the Customs House is micromanaging local authorities, he said, adding that this supervision is increasing costs by 10-15% and slowing delivery. He told the new minister that this approach must stop to speed up social, affordable and cost-rental housing.
Replicating housing plans across counties
He argued the same plans used by the private sector should be replicated for government-sponsored housing so designs for social and affordable homes in Waterford, Leish and Donegal can be reused nationwide. Standardising plans, he said, would reduce time and cost and accelerate construction across the 26 counties.
Support for small builders and apprenticeships
Brian Stanley emphasised the need to support small builders in rural towns and villages with low-cost finance similar to what larger builders receive. He also called for accelerated apprenticeship programmes to boost capacity in local construction.
Infrastructure and water supply in small towns
He urged direct funding to local authorities to address infrastructure deficits, particularly water supply, citing small towns such as Mount Melich, Mount Trat, Ratdownie, Grey Cullen, Ballyline, Port Arnick and Abbey Leaks. He noted many of these towns are connected by rail and argued investment in local infrastructure would facilitate quicker housing delivery.
Reference to Irish water and past debates
He recalled that the constituency counterpart created Irish water, naming Phil Hogan, and said he had argued with him at the time when Irish water was established. That history, he suggested, underlines the challenges of addressing water infrastructure through centralised structures rather than local control.
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Transcript
Thanks, Ian Corley, and congratulations, Minister, on your appointment. The revision of the National Development Plan is supposed to be to accelerate the delivery, particularly of the Housing Minister, and there's a couple of things you need to accelerate that. The first thing is that you need to replicate plans, existing plans. In other words, it's the same plan for social and affordable, and other houses can be used in Waterford, and it can be used in Leish and in Donegal, right? The private sector is doing that. But what's happening with local government and with government-sponsored housing is that it's back to a blank canvas every time. It's costing between 10% and 15% extra more to build them, and it's slowing it down. And the department in the Customs House is micromanaging the local authorities, and that needs to stop. And I've told previous ministers that, and I'm telling you that as a new minister, that's the first thing. The second thing is you need the builders. You need the small builders. And you know this, that rural towns and villages are small builders. If they had low-cost finance available to them, that's available to the larger builders, that could do it, and that needs to happen. And we need to accelerate the apprenticeship programmes. The other thing we need to do is to stop micromanaging the local authorities, in terms of the social and affordable and cost rental housing. There's infrastructure, infrastructure deficits need to be addressed, and infrastructural deficits in relation to water supply. And just think about this. Your constituency counterpart created Irish water, Phil Hogan. I was spokesperson for the opposition at the time, and I argued with him here several days over it. And you know the difficulties there are in trying to deal with Irish water. So you need to give the money directly to local authorities to put in the infrastructure in the small towns like Mount Melich, Mount Trat, Ratdownie, Grey Cullen, Ballyline and Port Arnick and Abbey Leaks. A lot of them are connected by rail, you know, so it's very easy to get around. We need the infrastructure going into those towns. You need to get the foot off local authorities, stop micromanagement of them. You need to use the same plans across the whole 26 counties, in terms of trying to wrap it and build up and speed up the delivery. If you want to produce something quick, good quality, you must produce. That's what we need to do, Minister. Thank you.