Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the proposers of the motion and Deputy Ó Broin for bringing it to the House today for discussion. The motion does not go for the jugular, as some motions would in this area. That is not a criticism of the motion, it is more a reflection of the complexity of the issue in terms of the lack of development of the Irish Glass Bottle site. That is understood by any group, politician, public representative or activist who has been involved in this issue over the past number of years.

Anyone who was unfamiliar with the area, in terms of canvassing door-to-door, but who has become familiar with it in the past number of weeks, as I have when canvassing for Ivana Bacik, knows how important the development of this area is to the people of Ringsend, Irishtown, Pearse Street, Sandymount and the surrounding areas. It is totemic in that area, in terms of how broken our housing policy has been for many years. With regard to the need to get this right and deliver on this site, the Minister used language in terms of having many important sites, but perhaps none more so than this, given its location and industrial history and how it was sustained by the workers of Dublin for so many years. It is the workers of Dublin who need to benefit from this, as it is developed.

At present, there is massive uncertainty as to whether that will happen. A considerable amount of legislation is coming through. We are having many debates. Only a couple of hours ago, we were in here debating planning legislation. I discussed the important role county and city councillors play in the planning and development process. I am proud of the role Labour councillors have played on this site in the past number of years.

I am not someone who comes in with fake bravado or history, in terms of what my party has done, but here it is credit where credit is due. When it came to the provision of social and affordable housing, a previous Minister, Deputy Coveney, said we would do no more than 10% and 300 houses was all that would be provided and there was no way more than that would be provided. This was backed up on the council by the Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil councillors at the time but the Labour group and the mayor at the time, Brendan Carr, and councillors such as Dermot Lacey who were local to the area, led and fought to ensure we had 350 social houses and more than 500 affordable houses included in this plan.

That is almost as much as the councillors can do, but that is a bigger argument which relates to the powers of councillors and we will come back to that in another debate. Now, it is up to this House, the Minister, the senior officials in Dublin City Council and, as this motion stated, the role of NAMA and how it can assist. The big players have to deliver on this site. There is concern and the reason I say this motion does not go for the jugular is it understands the complexity of the issue. It wants to deliver for the people of the community. It wants to deliver truly affordable housing.

We want the Bill the Government is bringing through on affordable housing to work. We have concerns it will not and it is in places such as the Poolbeg strategic housing development where the rubber will meet the road in terms of that affordable housing Bill. We are concerned because the developer and owners of the site, who will have huge control, have no track record in developing affordable housing or sustainable communities. They have a track record in developing prestigious buildings such as the one we are in now. That is their meat and drink. That is what they do.

However, they do not develop sustainable communities and that is what is needed down here. The eye-watering figures for rent and house prices in traditional working class areas, such as Ringsend and Irishtown, are an absolute scandal. The real worry is what will be developed in Poolbeg will be some prestigious community on a peninsula into the bay, which will be separated or almost gated - for want of a better term - and that it will not be integrated or part of the evolution of the communities down there and will be a place only very, very rich people can live and near which people of modest incomes will not be able to get.

People of modest incomes will not be able to get near it and people on modest incomes will not be able to afford it. This will be a community for the rich linked into the tech centre, the International Financial Services Centre, IFSC, and the centre of Dublin, but not the communities around it, communities which, through generations of work on that site, have invested their toil, sweat and tears in the hope that one day, the generations following them can continue to live there and develop their rich tradition. It is one of the many villages which exist in our city, among these great communities which are so vibrant and vital and of whose history we, as Dubliners, say we are so proud to share.

We are talking about 3,500 units. There could be 10,000 people living there. That is a big-sized town. This is not the development of a housing estate or a block of flats, this is the development of a new village, town and community. If that is not linked in properly with truly affordable public housing linked to the communities which exist down there, we, as a party, will be unable to support it.

The Minister is not opposing this. Everyone here wants the same goal, but will we get there? There are huge doubts at this time. There is a complex history to it. The action group down there has been consistent and worked with any public representative or any other community activist who wants the same thing down there, which is affordable, sustainable communities. We still seem as far away from that now as we were a number of years ago.

We know when polling day closes and a new Deputy is elected, this issue will not go away. This cannot just be a by-election issue. We know why this is brought here today and, fair enough, that is politics, but this is a day in day out issue for the people of Ringsend, Irishtown and the surrounding communities. This is their hope and that cannot be extinguished. It must be supported and delivered for those communities.

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