Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Were the Tánaiste aware of or interested in the urgency of this situation, were she as frustrated as everybody else with the lack of real progress, she would ask questions at Cabinet and be aware of the matter and be in a position to answer the question I am asking her. If 8,500 units are under construction, the majority were approved two years ago, and many of them are not even on site yet. I am taking as an example just one local authority area where many would say the crisis is at its worst. Why are 500 acres of zoned residential land in south County Dublin lying idle, with no specific local authority plans to deal with it? These are State-owned lands. Why has the Government not recognised the obstacles not allowing these lands to come to fruition much more quickly than it should? Why will the Government not consider any authority other than the local authorities and the Department, which have failed miserably in the past number of years? Fine Gael is depending on conventional methods that have failed to deliver a plan it said would be the greatest ever when it was in government last year.

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