Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

In the Poolbeg development, I have no sense that those affordable housing units will not become available. I am not happy with the mechanism used in the context of the development of that project to date. I would have much preferred it if we had got direct State build and access to the land but that is not the legacy that we inherited. We will manage matters, however, and make sure that we provide we provide social and affordable housing units on that site and others.

This evening, our councillors will be working - Sinn Féin has been involved with a similar issue in Donabate - in the context of the sort of solutions that we are presenting within government to give power to local authorities in order that they will retain a certain percentage of homes and that homes cannot all be sold off to institutional funds. This is because we want a mix. To go back to my key argument, we need a mix of different solutions. This evening, our councillors will be taking that approach in order to deliver real solutions on the ground.

The provision of finance, be it by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund or the other financing agencies, is not a cash injection from or a payment by the Exchequer. We are setting up financing mechanisms that allow us have a range of different solutions. We need financing. Our financing system is not working. We need a variety of different operators including, where there are gaps in the market, the State intervening to make sure that we have finance.

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