Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Yes, it was in some ways but I will come to that in a moment. How does the federation see a 1% levy helping social integration as opposed to Part V? While Part V was not perfect - I would be critical of some aspects of it including some aspects which may have held up the industry, which I do not want to do, as we want to ensure that new houses are coming on stream - overall, if we take it in the mix and if worked properly, it was beneficial. Why is it that the members of the federation insisted on not having Part V? The idea behind Part V was the delivery of social housing but also social integration. I would happily take the members of the delegations present or Members on a tour of some of the estates to show what has happened in some of them. I could show them a couple of examples of where their members got away with putting all the social housing into one corner. I remember reading about Liverpool in Victorian times and streets where the sun never shone on houses on each side of the street because they were too close together. I can take the representatives to an example of where that happened in County Laois, where a developer bullied planning officials who should not have caved in, to grant planning permission for such houses.

The irony of it is that there are cattle grazing in the field beside it. These are built on the edge of an estate. Mr. Parlon might be aware of them, being a former public representative for the constituency. There are cattle grazing on green grass and beside them are houses shoved face to face, front door to front door, with less than 3 m between them. I can show the witnesses that. The set on Coronation Street has more space. It is an absolutely scandalous situation.

I wish to hear from the delegates on how they propose ensuring that social housing units are peppered properly throughout an estate. The estate I live in has social housing. My next door neighbour on one side is in a social housing unit. I have no problem with this. The units are peppered reasonably well throughout the estate. I can show the delegates examples of where that was done and where it was not done. Is the CIF in favour of doing this? Is the Irish Planning Institute in favour of continuing with that type of social integration because it is, to my mind, important that we have that type of social integration.

On the delivery of the Government's programme over the next six years, how do the delegates view the provision on some of these units being provided by social leasing?

The vacant site levy has become a problem. This is an issue on which the delegates can help. Some people have not registered their ownership of sites to avoid the existing derelict sites levy. This levy is very weak and I brought forward a Bill to strengthen it.