Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Timmons, Mr. Ó Coighligh and Ms Stapleton. When witnesses come before us, we often struggle to find their names on the page in front of us when we are welcoming them. Unfortunately, we know the names all of those before us inside out and they know ours. I thank them for being with us today.

I will continue with the issues raised by Deputy Ó Broin. The first 18 months of this committee's term was really about bringing forward a major policy shift in terms of legislation. I refer to the availability of an affordable purchase scheme and a cost-rental scheme, the publication of Housing for All and the various supply measures that are within that. We are moving now towards a phase where, while there might be disagreement in the committee over the policy measures, we have moved away from establishing policy and we are in the phase of implementing Housing for All. That is what this meeting is about. Our report will focus on some of the challenges of implementing Housing for All, where it is going well and where it is going badly.

Different local authorities seem to take an ad hocapproach to the policy measures they are adopting. Some local authorities felt that cost rental, for example, was not for them. That is not acceptable. Each local authority must implement each phase and each element of Housing for All. Some had very ambitious senior citizen housing programmes while others had none. Some had implemented their affordable purchase scheme while others still have no affordable purchase scheme agreed. We still have a long way to go to ensure the translation of policy into practice at a local authority level. It is clear from the approved housing bodies that some of them are still a bit fearful of CREL, gearing, and all of the issues. To be honest, I do not see huge ambition within the approved housing body sector for the cost-rental model.

More needs to be done to ensure that translation.

Because it refers to the implementation of Housing for All, I thought I would concentrate on some of the sites in my own area. I am forewarning the officials so it does not surprise them. I want to talk through some of the challenges on the ground. More than 20 public housing sites on public land are being developed in my constituency. It is frustrating to drive around the constituency because the physical evidence of that cannot be seen yet but there are 20 sites public housing sites where we will put public housing in my constituency and none of that was possible before the current Government. That is worth noting. Let us take site 12 in Ballymun, for example. It is an affordable purchase site. A pre-Part 8 planning meeting was held with councillors in December 2021 but we do not know where things are now. I understand there are some issues of density. The officials might come back to me in writing on that or give me an update. Similarly, site 14 is an affordable purchase site. There is great potential to deliver a large number of affordable purchase units on that site but we are hearing that will not happen until 2025 and that seems like a long way off. The Shangan Road PPP bundle passed Part 8 in September 2022 so it has been through planning but we have a quarter 4 2025 delivery date. Again, it seems a very long time.

In Finglas, there are issues with the Kildonan lands where the affordable purchase we can build maybe slightly more expensive than adjoining homes at market value but they are very different offerings. We need to have a more realistic approach to affordable purchase housing because the more affordable purchase housing we provide, the more the overall supply will become cheaper. There is no activity on the Church of the Annunciation site that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and myself launched as part of that broader PPP bundle. It is a social housing site, mostly for older people. It is not due until quarter 3 2026. It has no design yet and has not been through Part 8. I have a real issue with the Berryfield site. It has approved planning permission from Novas for six three-bedroom houses in July 2020. I understand the Department did not approve the scheme because it felt more one-bedroom units were needed even though the reason for the scheme was to tackle antisocial behaviour. Novas resubmitted an application in April 2022 and in June 2022 and, therefore, two years after a planning permission had been approved for a site, DCC rejected the application. Two years later, on a site that was to be developed to stop antisocial behaviour, nothing has been built. There are other sites on Collins Avenue and Thatch Road. Again, I know the plans for them but they are either pre-Part 8 or they are not at Part 8. I have discussed all these with Dublin City Council. It tells me it takes time to build housing and I accept that but there still seems to be a lack of urgency at some part of the spectrum. The Novas site in Berryfield is an example of that but there are threads of that on the other sites too. I have thrown a lot at the officials. If they want to give me site-specific answers, they can come back to me but for now they might talk to me about that broader principle. Are we dealing with this as a real emergency at the implementation level with local authorities? Is the Department unnecessarily delaying those or is the delay at the local authority level?