Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I did not expect to be saying this, but I agree with much of what the presentations contained, particularly the points made by Mr. Doyle about making Sligo a living city, albeit it a small one. I welcome the emphasis on transport but Dublin city is facing a crisis in which its very character is under siege, from financial and money people who are literally gouging the heart out of the city and making it as unaffordable for families as Manhattan. They are turning Dublin into a city that relies extensively on tourism for a huge number of jobs and, if it keeps going in this way, it will not be recognisable as a living city for families and other people, at least between the canals. We will kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

Co-living developments are being encouraged under the strategic housing initiative and we are seeing, every week and in different parts of the city, including Blanchardstown, co-living proposals for up to 210 bedrooms. The business spokespeople need to wake up about this type of development, which is imposing living spaces on people in their 20s and 30s, and perhaps in their 40s, 50s and 60s, for which the rent will be so expensive that they will never be in a position to save to buy their own home. We will have an end to the home-owning democracy in our cities and that is what Fine Gael will have delivered in government. If the presentation on Sligo applied to Dublin, we would recognise the need for a vibrant urban space with good transport systems and opportunities to walk and cycle and where attractive family living was possible. All these things are being driven out of Dublin by a superfinancialised model which is leading to the emptying out of the city.

Is the Dublin Chamber of Commerce concerned about the future of Dublin? Many venues, from theatres to pubs, are disappearing from Dublin, falling before globalised finance which wants to invest in Dublin because the rental returns here are bigger than the returns in a place like California. The chambers represent businesses and they probably know what this is like.

If Dublin Chamber of Commerce is seeking workers, in terms of being able to afford rents, people will not be able to live near where they are likely to work. A crisis is developing in Dublin. Has Dublin Chamber of Commerce a sense of that? I agree with much of the presentation, but to be honest, it is as if we are in the run-in again to the previous crash. We are now overdeveloping at a point where we risk bringing the whole thing down on everybody’s head.