Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One cannot force mixed tenure onto private property beyond that for which we have legislated. We have legislated for Part 5. Unlike in the past, we are not going to allow developers to buy out that obligation. Rather, we are going to require that there be mixed tenure. One will see far more than 10% social housing in many private developments because as part of the funding model many developers are now talking to local authorities and approved housing bodies about selling a higher percentage. We want to guarantee that in every new housing estate built in the country there will be social housing. It will be the first time that will happen.

We want to use large, publicly-owned land banks much more strategically than we did in the past. For example, there is the potential for about 600 housing units in O'Devaney Gardens. If we only built social houses there we would have to do it in phases over a ten or 15-year period because my Department would have to fund every 100 or 200 units we built. Instead, we will be able to build 600 housing units in one development. Half will be social housing, 20% of which will be affordable rental units for the kind of people who do not come under the thresholds in terms of qualifying for social housing but still have real difficulty accessing houses. Some 30% will be social housing comprising 200 units on the site in the not-too-distant future. This will happen under a competitive process for the design of building integrated good communities in those areas. It will transform that part of Dublin, quite frankly.