Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Public land is a public asset. Public homes should be built on public lands but at prices that are affordable to the public. It is not a difficult idea to understand. Local councils in the past built most of Dublin's houses and we need to get back to that. Sinn Féin believes in this model of delivering affordable housing for families. We will not stand back and allow the Government sell off our public land to the highest bidder to build homes that no one can afford.

My constituency of Dublin Bay North needs affordable housing. Families are desperate and the Government is making it worse week by week. The proposal for the Oscar Traynor Road was proof of that. The original plan was to gift a huge parcel of public land to a developer to return an amount of public housing that was just not acceptable. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage needs to cop on and wake up. The proposed houses would have been out of reach and totally unaffordable for constituents who grew up in the area, who have families in the area, who want to live in the area and who want to contribute to the great community I represent. Councillors from all parties and none have now put forward a new proposal that has the support of the local people and will deliver affordable and cost rental houses for people in the area.

The Government's policies are failing these people. We need a step change. The Minister needs to listen to the experts and take on board our constructive opinions and advice. The ESRI believes that the shared equity scheme will increase house prices and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform shares that belief. This is absolutely bonkers. This housing crisis is not helping anyone and is making people desperate.

Sinn Féin wants to work with the Minister to solve this crisis but he just will not listen. He cannot keep dismissing us at every turn. We are telling him about constituents who are asking us to plead with him that they want their families to live in these areas and that they want to put a roof over their heads. If the Government cannot deliver on this, then the Minister will have failed and society will have failed.

The Bill before the House will remove our local councillors' powers to vote against plans which they believe are not in the best interests of their communities. This is not democratic. It takes away local decision-making from those who know their areas best. I cannot stress this enough. This is an attack on all parties. We do not believe the Bill will deliver affordable housing on public land. The Minister still has not even told us what he believes the cost of an affordable home is, which in itself speaks volumes.

See this speech in context