Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There has been much talk of massive investment in housing in my constituency of Dublin West. Some projects are proceeding on brownfield sites in Castleknock and Blanchardstown, which had one house on a large tract of land. These have been bought by developers with massive developments with perhaps 300 to 500 apartments being crammed onto the sites as SHDs. These are areas where schools and community facilities are already at capacity. Families moving into these apartments will have to look outside the community, in areas such as Ongar and Tyrrelstown, for school places. They will have to traverse Dublin 15 to get their children to school. This is not something that might happen; it has been happening for years. Greenfield sites in Ongar and Tyrrelstown are being developed on a massive scale. Poor planning and poor public transport means many people must use their cars, particularly around Tyrrelstown. How can we expect to hit climate change targets when we lack the investment in buses, safe cycle lanes, trains, schools, and community facilities where people live? Only two years ago, when I was a member of Fingal County Council along with one of my fellow Deputies, we spent inordinate time on the county development plan. It seems the Government either does not know it exists or has simply ignored the critical elements we put in place for proper planning and sustainable development. One element was that developments in villages would not exceed three storeys, which the Government overturned. SHDs were the other critical element. They have bypassed the local planning process. An example is a co-living development in Blanchardstown where a former pub will be turned into a co-living development for 240 people, with virtually no facilities around it. The facilities that are there are vastly over capacity.

In terms of climate change, it is key that we get the community involved. We need a real community development process that includes departmental co-ordination, co-ordination with the local authorities and with the community in terms of public transport, schools, community facilities, local shops, roads and infrastructure. We need the Minister of State to commit to ensuring that the voice of communities is heard and respected every step of the way. We need community development workers with professional backup to tackle the issue. When a strategic housing development, SHD, or other development comes up, we must ensure that communities are given the space and capacity to be able to deal with them. That is most important. No matter what Government is in place, if we are to tackle climate change it is critical that we bring the community along and the only way we will do that is if people feel they are part of the process.

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