Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's response. He will recall that he worked alongside others in opposition and the then Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, to successfully remove St. Michael's Estate from the land initiative into a much more sustainable public housing funding model that is currently working its way through. That is what we need to do in this instance.

The vast majority of councillors who opposed the transfer of land are not opposed to the residential development on that site. In fact, the local community needs social and affordable homes. The best way to proceed is in exactly the way the Minister has outlined, but with some haste, and to secure European Investment Bank funding alongside departmental funding to deliver fully public development on this site. The tenure mixture in terms of social, affordable rental and affordable purchase is a matter for the local councillors and the local community. It is our job to put forward the best funding model. I believe this site could be broken up into several Part VIII sections to expedite planning permission next year, do tendering and procurement in parallel and then be onsite the following year. However, the key is the Department working with the local authority to secure that package of European Investment Bank and departmental funding. I am certainly willing to work constructively with the Minister and others to try to achieve that aim.

See this speech in context