Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Increasing and accelerating housing delivery, particularly social and affordable housing, are at the heart of the Government's action plan for housing and homelessness, Rebuilding Ireland, which I accept and acknowledge is everyone's motivation. The two sites referred to are key housing authority assets that must be mobilised for the sustainable development of Dublin as a whole. They are key sites that can be used to deliver a lot of houses. I have visited both sites and recognise their importance in the delivery of housing.

While the development of residential land in housing authority ownership is, in the first Instance, a matter for the local authority concerned, including its elected members, we need to see new social and affordable homes realised from State housing land without delay, with particular emphasis on prioritising sites, including those mentioned, with the greatest potential to deliver housing at scale in the short to medium term. Both sites fit into that category. The issue is how we can develop them as quickly as possible. Like others, I am frustrated by the lengthy delays in developing some of the sites. We need to find ways to develop them a lot quicker.

St. Michael's estate is one of three significant sites being developed by Dublin City Council under its housing land initiative, the aim of which is to ensure the delivery of mixed tenure homes in the Dublin City Council functional area. It envisages the potential to yield a minimum of 420 mixed tenure homes and the elected members of the council have determined that they will be provided on a 30% social, 20% affordable and 50% private tenure mix basis. I understand a general discussion in that regard is under way. Most people acknowledge the need to provide affordable, social and private housing. I think I am correct in saying most Members present want to see some private housing on the sites mentioned, but the issue is who should build them. Given the strategic importance of St. Michael's estate, my Department is working very closely with the city council on its optimum development. I am conscious of the motion recently received from the city council which is being reviewed and discussed. I was asked by Deputy Eoin Ó Broin to meet the residents on the site, which I did. The Minister was also asked to visit the site and did so earlier today when he met local residents. I have not yet had an opportunity to discuss the matter with him. It is a great site which is located beside the Luas and in the heart of the city. We are all determined to deliver a top class housing project on it.

Shanganagh Castle is another great site which is also located near amenities and public transport services. It is very positive that the members of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council have come together on a cross-party basis with a view to achieving the optimal outcome on the site which can deliver over 500 new homes on a mixed tenure basis. I acknowledge that Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett has been campaigning on the issue for many years. My Department has met council officials on a number of occasions, including on site, to discuss the optimum development approach. Woodbrook-Shanganagh is a designated major urban housing delivery site and in recognition of this my Department is keen to support its development and has committed funding of just over €4 million from the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, to build public infrastructure which will open up the site for earlier development.

On the delivery of affordable homes on the two sites, it is ultimately a matter for the elected members of the councils to decide whether the homes should be affordable for purchase or cost rental. I firmly believe there is a need to ensure the rental sector, particularly in cities and major urban areas, is accessible and affordable. We are all agreed that the sector is not where it needs to be. To this end, we need to invest in a different rental offering, a so-called cost rental

sector which operates between the social and private market sectors. We are learning from pilot projects and the examination of similar models elsewhere. We are working with the European Investment Bank and other key stakeholders with a view to announcing shortly the first major cost rental project in Dublin city, with a broader programme of cost rental projects across Dublin and other cities to follow. The key issue is how we can stretch available resources to maximise these public developments. That is what we are trying to do.

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