Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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I will speak to amendments Nos. 1aand 4ain my name. I support what the previous speaker said and thank the Minister of State, Deputy Paudie Coffey, for the significant conversation he has had with me and Deputy Joe Costello. It is very important that the docklands be a vibrant area. We need to get back to what the Victorians, of all people, believed, that it was important for people to live close to where they worked. That is an important element of the provision of social housing. We would like to see affordable housing, but I understand there is a problem in that regard. We would also like to see a 20% local employment rate, or even higher, because the more people can live close to their places of work the better. As members know, it is very difficult to move around the greater Dublin area; it took several hours for some Deputies to get to this building this morning. I hope the spirit of the amendments will be taken on board. I will be interested to hear the Minister of State's response.