Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like others, I have concerns about social housing. I appreciate that the Minister is talking about increasing the 10% Part V social housing requirement to 20%. The core of the facts here is that public housing should be built on public land. We cannot stand over any development that will allow private developers to build private houses on public land, which are unaffordable to the majority of people. We understand that the housing crisis affects everyone, including renters, people looking for social and affordable houses, and those trying to buy private houses. Public land has to be used to deliver public houses. That is where we and the Minister fundamentally disagree. Allowing private developers and speculators onto public land is not something that we can support.

On amendments Nos. 214 and 215, as Deputy Ó Broin said about the tenure mixture, the local authority must be able to outline the housing need in its locality. If the Minister or LDA are to say what the tenure mixture is, it should depend on the housing need of that area, city, town or community. We are saying that to solve the housing crisis, we need to build public houses on public land.