Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the issue of scale, I have a concern. To a degree, everyone has stated that we can never again build big estates. I do not believe that should be the case.

We should be looking at developing as many houses as we possibly can. Obviously, there should be a social mix and proper community services and facilities as well.

Let us suppose we got around to doing that and the councils in Waterford, Cork or Limerick city wanted to provide 300 or 400 houses. The Housing Agency offers advice to the local authorities and the Department and so on. Does the agency have any ready-made plans that would involve building 200 houses here or 500 houses there? I do not mean plans with details of the exact type of house but rather what is needed to get the necessary social mix and facilities in place. We could deliver big projects. In Limerick, for example, we have delivered major projects that did not work. Obviously, the Moyross and Southill areas did not work. However, we have delivered other big projects that have worked, including Janesboro, Kennedy Park and Ballyanty Beg in the city. They worked because the facilities, schools and services were put into those areas. It is a dangerous thing to suggest we could never build large schemes or estates again.