Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will be interested to see what the Government comes up with. It is vital that this is done right as it was not done right previously. The Government has an opportunity to put it right. There is no doubt that it must be workable for the developer and the builder, otherwise the houses will not be built, but the Government will have to insist on a minimum of 10% in respect of social housing.

It is possible to come up with a mechanism that would be workable and ensure the developer would not lose his or shirt on a project. That mechanism could be framed in such a way that it would be workable and, more than anything else, ensure the provision of more units, greater progress towards social integration and the tackling of ghettoisation.

In June the international hedge fund, Kennedy Wilson, was granted planning permission for the development of more than 160 units at the former Clancy Barracks, in respect of which the only condition in terms of social and affordable unit provision is that the developer meet the local authority on the matter, which meeting will obviously take place behind closed doors. I would like to know if the Government is interested in having an impact in the development of this site which the developer says and may well believe is unsuitable for social housing provision. The Government has an obligation to ensure the local authority will insist on a minimum of 10% of the former Clancy Barracks development being social housing.

See this speech in context