Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independent) | Oireachtas source

What the regeneration team is putting forward is a proposal for 300 units, with a mixture of one, two and three-bedroom units, which would cost in the region of €56 million, and it is looking for this to come out of capital expenditure for next year. I believe this project would be a very good way of seeing how the cost-rental model works. The daft.iefigures show that rents have gone up by 80% in Dublin in recent years and that they are totally beyond the means of ordinary people - such as retail and transport workers, nurses, doctors and teachers - right across the board. This sort of plan could be a game changer for this country in regard to rent, as well as the high cost of mortgages, and I urge the Minister to look at it seriously. Some €56 million is not a huge amount and it could regenerate that community in St. Michael's Estate. The St. Michael's Estate regeneration team had been burnt badly by the McNamara public private partnership of the 1990s. We need something that people in the community can buy into, rather than people from outside buying into the community.

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