Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is a modest, albeit welcome, number. Nobody is knocking the number, we just think the Government could do a great deal more. The builders have to make a profit, but the land hoarders should not be encouraged to leech on the Bill and make significant profits on which arrangements can be made to avoid tax. They will not be worried either about the derelict sites levy.

I refer to a very nice site called Barnhill by the canal in Dublin West. It is zoned for approximately 3,000 houses, including, perhaps, a small number of apartments. Mainly, it is family houses because that is what the demand is from couples with children. Notwithstanding the development capital for infrastructure, the site is landlocked because there is not enough money to build the road required to access it. It is a beautiful site for housing by the canal on the Dublin-Meath border and close to Kildare. The Taoiseach will know it very well from walking and running along the canal. Why can he not say we can have lovely homes for the people working in the greater Blanchardstown area and public servants working in the Dublin region? We have a schools infrastructure and a great deal of foreign direct investment in the area. The Minister of State should take a note of Barnhill and take a spin out to the site or to the Taoiseach's office, which is only a 15 minute drive from Ongar. It is perfect. Since we reopened the site at Hansfield when I was in government, 1,000 very nice houses have been completed. When we were in government, we built a very large secondary school and a very large primary school in Hansfield, both of which, I am happy to say, are doing very well.

With more imagination, it is possible to improve the Bill. To go back to O'Devaney Gardens, I counted three Ministers at the event. The Minister for Finance was there, obviously, as well as the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government and the Lord Mayor of Dublin.

The Taoiseach was meant to go but he pulled out because it was following the revelations of his comments in licking up to President Trump. It is a pity that the Taoiseach did not go because he would have seen where Fine Gael is failing. Fifty-six units - they will not all be houses - is it in a site that has been lying derelict for more than ten years. Will the Minister of State encourage his colleagues in Government to give an opportunity to families to buy an affordable house as they have been used to doing for generations?

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