Ms Fiona Cormican:

What I am trying to say is that there seems to be an attitude in this country that private development is bad and that private developers are bad people. The reality is that nobody in the local authorities is out delivering houses themselves, neither are we are out with shovels and laying bricks ourselves. We rely on the private sector. Creating synergy with the private sector would allow us to create properly mixed tenure schemes where we all contribute to the development, master planning and developing of very good blind mixed-tenure schemes where everybody can live together. The profits made on the private sale of properties can be used to help subsidise communal spaces and facilities such as pitches. Many good proposals have been put forward by private developers to do this on State land alongside AHBs but when it comes to the floor of the council chamber, they get voted down because people do not want to see any land going anywhere near private developers. This does not make any sense.