Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Ó Broin and his colleagues for tabling the motion. It is timely and useful. I will not oppose it. I will not engage in a political back-and-forth with the three previous speakers because this is a very serious issue.

I agree with Deputy Ó Broin that this is a very important strategic site. It is not the only important strategic site in Dublin but is probably the most significant. I want to see it developed. I remind Deputies Ward, Andrews and Ellis that one of the reasons we talk about affordable housing is because I have prioritised the provision of affordable housing. The most comprehensive affordable housing legislation ever published was brought to the House by me and will conclude before 14 July. I am pleased to remind the Deputies that they are all supporting that Bill. I welcome that support. The Bill has not been opposed. In the interests of working together to deliver homes to people, that needs to happen.

I cannot answer for 2019 because I was not Minister at the time. I know the site well. I was there yesterday evening. The intelligence unit in the party opposite is working well. I met residents there and discussed the site with them. It is not the first time I have met them. I met the Irish Glass Bottle Housing Action Group and residents group in March with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and my colleague, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan. I met them yesterday with Councillor Deirdre Conroy. It is a significant site and we need to deliver sociable and affordable homes at scale. I want sites like this and other sites, such as the Oscar Traynor site, moved on. We need to get on with it at this stage.

There are a couple of elements we can help with in order to do that. One is the Affordable Housing Bill, part of which changes the serviced site fund into the affordable housing fund. We will be able to increase the subvention for affordable housing to address some of the affordability issues. I am looking at areas where affordability is far more acute, such as Dublin and Cork. I signalled in the debate on the Land Development Agency Bill that I hoped some Deputies opposite might change their position and see their way to supporting it. In Dublin and Cork I propose that we provide 100% affordable and social housing on State-owned land through the Land Development Agency as well, and we need to do that.

How do we move the Poolbeg site on? When I, together with the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, met residents in March, I said to them that I believe it is important that we get stakeholders around the table. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has a role in this, as does DCC has a role in this, the developer and the builder. As I said to residents yesterday when I met them, we will convene that round-table group. We need to work through the financials. We need progress in this area. While I know it is not coincidental that the motion has been tabled in advance of a by-election in Dublin Bay South, nevertheless it is useful because this could be an exemplar for how we deliver affordable, social and private homes at scale in an area where Deputy Ellis has rightly said we need to have a mix of tenure and different types of families.

Deputy Andrews said the Government's affordable housing approach is breaking our people. If anything, there are three things that I stand by and have made an absolute priority in the year since I have been Minister. One is tackling homelessness. That has to be the number one priority, and we are seeing a continued reduction in it. The second relates to providing social homes at a scale never seen before in the history of the State. That is why it is backed with the biggest single budget in the history of the State, comprising €3.2 billion for housing. We need to do more and see that delivery. I remind the Deputies opposite that they opposed that budget. The third is the delivery of affordable housing for working people. I believe in homeownership and that it is an honest and just aspiration for people to have. We should support it. The State should be part of doing that and right now, the State is the biggest builder.

Post pandemic, we need to start to deliver these schemes at scale. There is vast potential in Poolbeg. I understand from talking to residents there is a further plan that will be brought forward, which I want to see. I want to get their views on that. I want to get Dublin City Council and other stakeholders, including NAMA, around the table, which I will do. If this is done properly at Poolbeg it could be an exemplar for sites all around the country.

The Leas-Cheann Comhairle is from Galway. We can provide housing on State-owned lands in the docklands area of Galway city, as well as in the north docks in Cork, in Waterford and other areas where the State is involved through the affordable housing fund. That is the legislation we will pass in the House which I have worked on since last July to ensure that we have the legislative foundations to be able to provide State subventions for affordable housing for purchase. Not only that, we also want to provide cost rental housing. There are massive opportunities there.

In the Affordable Housing Bill, we will establish on a primary legislative footing, for the first time ever, a national cost rental scheme, a national scheme for affordable purchase for delivery of direct build affordable homes by our local authorities and a new and innovative shared equity scheme for first-time buyers, homeowners and people who are stuck in rip-off rental situations at the moment. They will be able to buy a home and pay less than half of the amount they are currently paying in rent in a mortgage. That is what want to do.

I welcome the motion, debate and contributions. I look forward to working with Deputies across the House to deliver on Poolbeg because it is incumbent on us and the Government – I say this as Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage – that we see progress on this site. We want progress not just on Poolbeg and the Irish Glass Bottle site but in areas like Oscar Traynor on the other side of the city and sites all over this country. That is what I intend to do.

We need to deliver at least 33,000 public and private homes per annum. This year, because of Covid, we will be short by 20,000 units. In the meantime, we need to provide hope for working people that they will have a scheme whereby they will be able to buy homes at an affordable rate or rent their homes at affordable rates through State-backed secure rents, as well as increasing the provision of social housing, which I very much intend to do, backed by real financing.

In short, and in conclusion, I intend to meet the residents again. I will do that within a short space of time, along with public representatives, but first with stakeholders. I said to residents yesterday that I did not want to do so in advance of the Dublin Bay South by-election for fear that it might be seen or the charge might be made that it was for some party political reason that I was doing so.

I met them in March. I have been progressing the Department's position. There is a way forward.

I look forward to working with Members like Deputy Andrews, who represent that constituency and spokespersons from other parties on delivering homes not just on this site, but thousands of other homes on hundreds of other sites across the country. Individuals and parties need to be aware of their responsibility and that of their local authority members to support housing developments in their communities. We are in the midst of a housing crisis that is fixable. We have the expertise, know-how and resources to make significant strides in that regard, but we cannot put up with continued delays and objections from certain local authority members across the country. We need to get on with delivering homes for our people. I hope that a consensus can be agreed with residents and stakeholders on delivering at scale in Poolbeg.

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