Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 2 June 2016

Committee on Housing and Homelessness

Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the County and City Management Association

10:30 am

Photo of Maureen O'SullivanMaureen O'Sullivan (Dublin Central, Independent)
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I thank the Chairman. I am trying to get a sense of how quickly, between everybody, we can see a major difference when it comes to housing and to making a dent in the list. Earlier, the Minister told the committee that 4,400 housing units are under construction in Dublin, that there is planning permission for another 27,000 and that another 80,000 could be built on zoned land for which there is planning permission. We are told that the capital is available. What timeframe is being worked towards where we will see a difference and a dent in the list? That is the first question.

How many Part V applications have been submitted and how quickly can they be moved along? We know about the need for one-bed and two-bed accommodation. How can we ensure with private developers that a sufficient number of these units will be built to satisfy the need?

On the issue of emergency accommodation, I would ask that no emergency hostel accommodation is closed down until an alternative is in place, as that happened recently. When we were in Focus Ireland yesterday, something we all know was brought home very clearly, that is, the bureaucracy involved in HAP which is preventing people from availing of it.