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

The haste the Minister speaks about is, again, something we would welcome and we will work with him on this. We cannot have strategic sites such as this being used, for example, for so-called affordable housing that costs the purchaser between €325,000 for a one-bed up to €380,000 for a three-bed. We cannot have valuable public land like this being used to sell open market, unaffordable housing for between €400,000 and €420,000.

I welcome the fact the Minister has given a very clear commitment over a number of months both to deliver public housing on public land to meet social and affordable need, and also, crucially, to oversee a step change in Government policy. The land initiative was never really something that the majority of Dublin city councillors wanted. It was a product of a time capital funding was slashed and we do not have to use that model. What I would say, and I say it in good faith, is that if the Minister wants to demonstrate that his Ministry is radically different from that of his predecessor, Oscar Traynor Road is his opportunity to prove that. He should give the council the options. It cannot pluck funding models out of the sky; the Minister has to show a willingness to work with it. I believe that if he puts those funding models on the table, he will see a welcome response from the councillors.

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