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

This Bill is very simple and the decision to be made is all the simpler because Fianna Fáil and the Green Party both opposed co-living in no uncertain terms when in opposition. The Minister of State's Government colleagues from my area, the Minister Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, and the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, both vehemently opposed the co-living development at the former Brady's site in Castleknock. My belief was that the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, abstained previously and he was playing politics with this. I believe that will be proven in the next couple of days. However, I thought the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, was made of different stuff and find it disappointing that he did not turn up tonight to explain to the people of Blanchardstown and Castleknock why he would be voting down this Bill tomorrow. On 9 January he said that the decision is completely the fault of Fine Gael's housing policies and also there has been no thought put into the co-living model.

I will briefly outline the co-living development at what was formerly Brady's Castleknock Inn. It is on the site of a former house and is surrounded by semi-detached two-storey houses of the sort one would find in every single estate in suburban areas in Dublin 15. This multistorey development will be completely out of character with its surrounding environment. It will consist of 210 units and there is not one single car park space. There are two drop-off spaces, but where are the hundreds of people who are going to live here park their cars? It is going to clog up the streets of the surrounding area. The reality is that these developments will become temporary halfway houses for people seeking better accommodation. The population will be temporary and transient and will severely impact on the local community surrounding it. There are many reasons to oppose this.

It is clear that these developments would not even be considered if we had a functioning housing market. I ask that this motion be passed and that we ensure we have proper and sustainable development into the future which meets the needs of the people and not the greed of the developers.

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