Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the witnesses for their presentations. I thank the representatives of An Bord Pleanála. I have engaged with the board on a number of applications. I will direct my comments largely to the Department. I consider the SHD process to be a massive missed opportunity on the part of the State. It achieved the objective of speeding up the decision-making process but at the cost of quality decisions being made. I absolutely agree with the Government's intention to retire it at the end of 2021. We need to look at the quality of developments it has driven. In my own constituency of Dublin Central, approximately 10,000 purpose-built student accommodation units have been delivered in recent years while no affordable or social homes have been built. That is not sustainable. It does not drive the development of compact sustainable urban communities in our cities.

My questions relate to the next 12 months. I understand that 75,000 units are undergoing pre-planning consultation. What is going to happen to those applications over the next 12 months? How is the Department going to work to ensure we get some sustainable developments out of them that take into account the needs of the communities involved? It should be borne in mind that the rate of home ownership in Dublin Central is less than 10%. We already have a massive transient population. While this is characteristic of an inner-city constituency, I assure the Department that many people would like to live there in a sustainable way over generations. Opportunities to facilitate this are not being delivered.

My other concern somewhat contradicts my other comments. Just 29% of the permissions granted have been activated. More than 71% of what has been approved is lying there. What will happen to that? I fear to argue in favour of activating these permissions because I may then be arguing for poor-quality developments and for smaller apartments and homes which take little account of the broader community needs in the area. What are the Department's intentions as regards giving direction over the next 12 months, while the SHD process is still in place, to ensure we get better quality developments that genuinely contribute to creating an environment in which there can be sustainable compact communities in the inner city?