John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

notes:

the comprehensive framework for the further development and modernisation of housing in Ireland as set out in the Government's housing policy statement Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities;

the record investment of almost €9 billion in housing programmes over the past five years and the continuing major investment being provided under the National Development Plan 2007-2013;

the progress made in the delivery of social housing, with completions in 2007 reaching their highest levels in over a decade;

the continued increase in the delivery of affordable housing in recent years and the efforts currently being made by Dublin City Council to enhance its affordable housing application system and establish a more reliable perspective on the level of demand for affordable housing;

the important role of public private partnership arrangements as one of the suite of approaches employed for the delivery of a range of housing programmes; and

the capacity of such approaches to deliver communities with households of mixed tenures and incomes, together with good quality social and physical infrastructure, through effective leadership by the local authority and full engagement with the communities concerned and the relevant State, private and voluntary sector organisations;

shares the disappointment arising from the announcement that a number of Dublin City Council's housing PPP projects are not to proceed as originally planned;

welcomes the actions taken by Dublin City Council, as the contracting authority, to resolve the issues involved, with a view to progressing the projects concerned as speedily as possible, in close consultation with the relevant communities and regeneration boards; and commends the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Minister of State with responsibility for housing, urban renewal and developing areas for:

the very significant levels of financial resources they are providing to support housing programmes in the Dublin City Council area, including the regeneration of Ballymun, with €250 million being provided in 2008 alone;

their clearly stated commitment to continuing to engage actively with Dublin City Council in progressing the regeneration of the areas affected by the recent announcement and in ensuring that priority continues to attach to meeting the accommodation requirements of the affected communities; and

their initiation of a review of the implications which the announcement in relation to the Dublin PPP projects concerned may have for the approach to housing PPP projects more generally.

I propose to share time with the Minister of State, Deputy Finneran.

See this speech in context