Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have been down at the site of the former Irish Glass Bottle Company in recent weeks while canvassing for Senator Boylan. I was struck by the potential the site holds for the future of our city. The key question for everyone involved in delivering the plan for this site is how we want to see our city grow in the next decade. Everything else will follow from that question. Is the vision an extension of what is known as Googletown, one that creates circumstances in which homes are out of reach for most of our citizens, as is currently the case?

I come from just across the river from Ringsend and only a couple of hundred metres from Sheriff Street. I was reared in East Wall. If I was born in either of those areas today, I would never be able to afford to live here. I see my old friends and neighbours and their children who are unable to afford their current rent, let alone have any chance of buying one of the multitude of apartments lying empty close to this building.

A site in my constituency in Mulhuddart in Dublin 15, Churchfields, has been ready to go for more than four years. The site is shovel-ready yet fewer than 100 social houses have been built around the periphery. There is huge potential for it to integrate with the surrounding communities.

During my time as a councillor on Fingal County Council, I supported the council with regard to every site on every single occasion. Every step of the way, the council received 100% support. Despite this, not one affordable house has been built on that site or any other site since it came before councillors in 2017. Fingal County Council management kept telling us that it could not proceed as it did not have the funding or the figures for an affordable housing scheme from the Government.

I note that Sinn Féin's opposition to housing has been mentioned a couple of times. I challenge any Minister to visit the estates that have been built in Fingal in recent years, from Hollystown and Hansfield right down to Ongar and all the way to Pelletstown. Sinn Féin has opposed only two developments, one of which is a co-living development and the other a build-to-rent development. Both of those developments were also opposed by sitting Government Ministers.

A recent Journal.iepoll has shown how out of touch the Government is with what the vast majority of citizens believe is an affordable home. Only 4% of those polled believe that anything near €400,000 would be deemed affordable. Close to 50% of those polled believe that an affordable home should cost in the region of between €200,000 and €300,000. This is not far off what it cost Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance to provide affordable housing in Ballymun. In fact, the first scheme put to market several years ago by Ó Cualann Cohousing Alliance, which we met, had a starting price of €144,000 for a two-bedroom house, while a four-bedroom house was sold for €244,000. It has shown that this can be replicated across the State. The Government can do it but chooses not to.

The motion calls for genuinely affordable homes to be delivered on the former Irish Glass Bottle Company site in the Poolbeg West SDZ. It would also set the tone for all other affordable housing schemes throughout the State, including Churchfields in my area in Mulhuddart, which I mentioned. Unfortunately, I believe that overall, despite some crumbs from the table for workers, this Government is wedded to the private market, developers, vulture funds and cuckoo groups.

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