Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I would like to reiterate the request I made to the Minister of State last time out. The reduction in the Part V social and affordable housing requirement from 20% to 10% is bad enough. It is actually terrible. Now it has been decided that rather than securing that 10%, provision should be made for the option of leasing out that 10% as private rented accommodation.

This is like the out clause that allowed the developer to buy out the 20% social and affordable housing. I appeal to the backbenchers of the Government parties not to allow this to go through. It serves nobody to include it.

I support amendment No. 42 which relates to specialist age developments. St. Michael's Estate in my constituency is now Thornton Heights, which is part of the regeneration that was built with 75 social housing units. There is a proposal to build a 50-bed step-down facility for old folks with special needs beside the Richmond Barracks section, where there is a ten acre site. The council and St. Michael's Estate regeneration board support it and there will be a community meeting tomorrow night to hear the views of the community. I appeal to the Minister, who has not yet stepped up to the plate on this, to say it is a good idea. It is beside the local primary care centre and a nursing home, and it is linked with another small old folks' camp at the beginning of the estate. The inclusion of amendment No. 42 would mean something positive, at least, in this part of the Bill.

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