Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

As I said, the Shanganagh Castle site could deliver 540 social and affordable homes. I have been campaigning on the issue for six or seven years, but nothing is happening. Two of my colleagues, Councillors Lisa Halpin and Hugh Lewis, put forward the first motion calling for social and affordable housing on the site. There is cross-party support on the issue. The question now is whether the Department will fund it or allow the local authority to access the finance to do so. I have made a proposal in that regard. We need departmental officials who can make decisions to sit down with Deputies, council officials and cross-party representative of the political parties to identify the blockages. That is all we need to do. Instead of continuous engagement backwards and forwards on who is to be blame, blockages and so on such that the issue is lost in communication and nothing happens, we need people who can make decisions. Will the Minister of State agree to a meeting of all of the major stakeholders to iron out what needs to be done to deliver housing?

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