Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It appears from all the statements being made about housing development that this particular part of Fingal, and the rest of Fingal, will be the largest area of housing development in the county generally over the next period of time and yet the Minister appears in terms of the reply to be washing his hands of the issue with no concern. Developers did very well out of the people in the area. In the different towns like Lusk, Portrane and Loughshinny, people paid high prices for their homes and paid large development levies within that price. In fact, people living in the area have contributed a great deal to pay for this infrastructure. What is extraordinary is that the Government has also now quasi-suspended Irish Water from what we are led to believe in terms of the deal with Fianna Fáil. As such, it is almost back to the council days of old when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were in an unholy alliance to do the bidding of the developers. There is no response as yet to what is an environmental disaster.

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