Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The biggest hoarder of land in this country is the State. It is hoarding thousands of acres. In St. Michael's Estate in Inchicore this is very obvious as soon as one walks into the square. Where the flats used to be there is a big unsafe space of approximately 12 acres. It is about time we used it because in Dublin South Central there are over 7,000 people on the housing list and in Inchicore approximately 2,000. Those are amazing figures. I recall being a councillor at a time when there were 7,000 people on the housing list for the whole of Dublin city. These figures are startling. Despite the Minister's attempt to disguise the housing figures by saying those who are illegal should not also be registered as homeless, one can be both. Despite his attempt in different ways to disguise the homeless list, it is growing. There were 10,000 on it in April and some 3,755 of them were children. We have a serious problem and the State needs to end the hoarding of land and to use initiatives such as the residents of St. Michael's Estate are proposing to have a cost-rental model that will allow immediate building instead of hoarding the land in the interests of the developers so that the price goes up and the deal can suit private development rather than land for public use. This is public land and the only thing that should go on it is public housing.

We will have to consider a model that will deliver that. I do not know if the Minister of State has read the St. Michael's Estate document but I encourage him to read it. Tremendous work has been done in the community on fair-rent homes. The proposal is to allow people who have jobs and are not eligible to be on the social housing waiting list because they earn too much to be able to rent at an affordable price. The State will continue to own the homes. It is a very sensible model and I think there is cross-party support for it in Inchicore. Would the Minister of State please read it?

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