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

As a public representative, I have often said that the only thing more unpopular than the housing shortage is the construction of housing. I can understand the motivation behind trying to ensure a speedier delivery but there was no acceptance in the opening statements today that the introduction of SHDs has significantly undermined the construction of housing. Housing often involves leadership by public representatives and community groups to support development and the SHD process has effectively pulled the rug out from under many of those people when developments have come before us. I refer to three areas. The first is the decision to remove the height cap from the city. The second relates to the content of many of those developments and reliance on things like aparthotels and cuckoo funds buying entire complexes. The third issue is the clustering of several SHDs together. All this has led to a belief that an overall picture is not being considered in a way that local area plans, LAPs, or the local authorities might have previously done.

The decision on the Glenhill development on the Finglas Road, which has been dealt with in the courts and is a matter of public record, noted that the height of the development was a significant deviation from the Dublin city development plan but no reason was given for that. That is something we need to consider because people will not support a development if they do not know what the height is going to be. Clustering is a massive issue. In Santry, several SHDs have been brought together. They all have a cumulative impact and yet it does not appear that any of that cumulative impact is being considered. In fact, they seem to be considered as stand-alone, separate SHDs. That never would have happened at the local authority level and needs to be considered. Finally, I am concerned that some of the conversation here is about consultation and the elements being considered.

The programme for Government is very clear; there should be no extension of the SHD process. I would be very worried to see any element of it brought back as it may result in many of those mistakes being repeated.