Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

Perhaps I might say a few words in support of the clause not allowing rent allowance in regeneration areas. I do so on two grounds, as a Deputy for Dublin North-West, which includes Ballymun, and as Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, which allows me a wider view.

I thank Deputy Catherine Murphy, whose words explain my thinking. She said that certain groups were taking a very theoretical or abstract view of this and producing objections. I take a very practical view based on experience of my own area. It is a matter of giving an area that has been regenerated a chance to breathe. In the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s we built vast local authority housing estates and high-rise developments of between five and 15 storeys. We are currently spending about €230 million or €250 million a year in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government trying to rectify some of the errors of the past. Some of that expenditure is on small scale remedial work schemes, while much of it is being spent on regeneration schemes such as that in Ballymun, which alone accounts for perhaps €100 million a year. When Ballymun was built, it comprised 2,800 flats and a couple of thousand houses. Some of them have been bought out, while others are rented by tenants. Nobody will be prevented from living in these areas in the future. Everybody who was in a flat in Ballymun is being given a new house or a duplex. To provide a social mix we are building some private apartments. To give the place a chance to grow, we said there would not be any more rent allowances for those private apartments.

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