Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

My amendment No. 910 relates to page 405 of the Bill after line 39, "to insert the following: “(12) Subsection (10) shall not operate to prevent the zoning of land for the particular use of providing affordable housing.”." Subsection (10) is about the housing strategy and providing that there is a general policy about the tenure mix and provisions around affordable housing as well. The reason I am bringing this forward is that when councillors in Dublin City Council proposed an affordable housing zoning they were told it could to be brought in because it contradicted what was not provided for in statutory legislation and there would be a potential contradiction with what is allowed for in terms of housing strategies. I have tabled this amendment so that it does not prevent the introduction of affordable housing, the zoning of land for the use of affordable housing. If councillors in the local authority and the Ministers are saying we need to respect the independence of local authorities, we need to respect that if councillors in the local authority want to introduce an affordable housing zoning for use on lands they deem suitable to be used predominantly for providing affordable housing, they should be able to do that. This amendment seeks to allow for that.

I am very concerned with things being consistent with the programme for Government so it might support some of the amendments I am tabling. This is consistent with the programme for Government and its commitment to the Vienna model of housing because in Vienna affordable housing zoning is a key part of affordable housing. If the Minister of State has any concerns that this is not consistent with the programme for Government I can assure him it is.