Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Tá an Bille seo teicniúil. Cuireann sé deireadh leis an Dublin Docklands Development Authority agus aistríonn sé gach rud go Chomhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath. I welcome the opportunity to discuss this Bill on Second Stage and will take this opportunity to raise a number of issues with the Minister of State. This Bill proposes the dissolution of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, DDDA, and the transfer of rights and functions to Dublin City Council. Section 7 deals with the transfer of functions from the authority to Dublin City Council.

Has the Minister of State considered the legal implications in moving all functions from the DDDA to the council, specifically in respect of the current desperate situation in Longboat Quay? Tonight, more than 600 residents in just short of 298 apartments face evacuation from their homes if they cannot collectively find the €4 million required to resolve fire safety defects. Each resident is currently facing a personal cost of €18,000 to conduct the necessary work to ensure the safety of their home. The work needed includes the installation of "an adequate smoke ventilation system" for the lobbies and communal stairs, fire separation between apartments, upgrading of fire doors and the installation of fire-stopping materials in utility services.

The developer, Bernard McNamara, built the complex in 2006 at the peak of the Celtic tiger. His company, Gendsong, went into receivership not long after that. As a result, the properties remain with the DDDA, which also owns a number of apartments in the complex. To date, the DDDA has invested €1 million in contracting fire wardens and upgrading the fire alarms system. In its supposed attempt to address this situation, the DDDA offered to put €2.75 million towards the necessary works, which the residents rightly refused. Why should they have to foot a single penny of this colossal bill?

Today, Dublin City Council's chief executive said the council has nowhere to put residents as the homeless crisis deepens. Does this honestly come as a surprise to the Government when there are 130,000 applications on the housing list and almost 180 people sleeping on the streets every night in addition to 1,500 children in hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation? The situation facing the docklands residents is further proof, as if any were needed, that the homeless crisis has gained unprecedented momentum due to failures of this Government and is now worsening by the day.

Direct and decisive action is needed in addressing this issue before more citizens find themselves in the same situation as many thousands have done, with little light at the end of the tunnel.

It is clear from the experience of Priory Hall in 2011 that poor building regulations and little oversight resulted in developers, insurance companies and builders doing their utmost to shirk all responsibility and accountability. No consideration was given to residents who bought or rent these properties and all this is evidence of the worst kind of capitalism. To date, Priory Hall has cost the city council €27 million. Will the Minister of State confirm or give a commitment that the Department or the local authority which has assumed new responsibilities will absorb the cost of these necessary works at Longboat Quay?

The nightmare situation facing the docklands residents threatens to replicate itself throughout the country as I have no doubt news of other substandard properties will emerge in the near future. While the Minister of State has acknowledged the likelihood of more affected properties, such as a development in County Kildare, or Prospect Hill in Finglas, which we are hearing about, he has attempted to dodge the core issue of regulation by blaming the policy of previous Governments for current deficiencies in building standards. Such deflections are becoming all too habitual as the Minister of State continues to pass blame for the housing emergency while ignoring the devastating realities of the homelessness crisis.

This week a Minister claimed the Government had introduced legislation demanding better building regulation. Not surprisingly, this claim was directly countered by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, which warned that the regulations do not provide adequate oversight of development and will not ensure this does not happen in the future. It seems I have to make the point that the Government must hold developers to account because the Government is operating in a permanent blind spot when it comes to holding the appropriate persons to account. We call for the implementation of regulations as per the recommendations of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland in conjunction with introduction of legislation to ensure developers are held responsible for any failing on their part to correspond to standards and regulations set out by the authorities.

Local community groups, residents' associations and businesses play a vital role in shaping the places in which they live and work. Part 5 provides for the establishment of a consultative forum on a statutory basis to allow for the input of relevant parties into any future planning by the local authority in the docklands. I welcome this and reiterate the importance of community participation in the planning process as it is essential to the establishment of a suitable and harmonious residential environment. It is essential, therefore, that the structures that comprised the consultative form previously be maintained. We welcome the deepening of the consultation process between the city council and the aforementioned community stakeholders.

Will the Minister of State outline whether employees of the DDDA have received any guarantees about redundancies, whether compulsory or voluntary? Will employees be transferred to Dublin City Council and, if so, on what terms? Will pensions be honoured? Are there any outstanding debts that the taxpayer and the city council will have to take up? Will the Minister of State confirm that the Castleforbes apartments, which have been left lying idle for six or seven years and do not comply with building standard regulations, were bought by Dublin City Council from the DDDA for a very large sum? The docklands is a modern residential, office and business hub and area that has been transformed into one of the most vibrant parts of the city. It is an example of what can be done to what was once a run-down area. Will the Minister of State confirm whether there is a cost to this transfer and, if so, what is it? I believe that future regeneration plans for the area are probably being transferred into the best hands, and where they should be, with Dublin City Council, but it is important that we all keep an eye on this and that Dublin City Council is held to account in the future as well.

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