Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am an advocate of the cost-rental model, which Dr. Healy put forward two years ago, because it could be a game changer for our society. We should not get hung up on whether it is on the balance sheet or off it. We have to get the concept out there. We should not differentiate between social housing and cost rental - it should all be public housing. A person should be allowed onto a social housing list whether he or she earns less than or more than €42,000. It is important not to have divisions such as this in communities and there should be no NIMBYism about which people should be allowed to live in a community.

St. Michael's Estate is an example of how this can work. It is important that we get behind the St. Michael's Estate campaign for public housing on public lands because we have had reports that there is land for the OPW and the local authority to build 114,000 houses. We have to get the message out to the broader community. The regeneration team has been fighting for 20 years for proper housing, which would be for people in the community and not those from outside. They are not going to be houses for €340,000 or €400,000, which very few in my community in Inchicore could afford. What emphasis is the regeneration team putting on the role of amenities in the proposal? It was suggested that the amenities be built first.