Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The strategic housing development planning process, which allows developers and property speculators to get around the normal planning process and increase the value of sites that they purchase, has been thoroughly discredited. It was supposedly brought in to accelerate the delivery of the housing that we need to address the housing crisis but, as we know, only one third of strategic housing developments have actually been commenced and we now have the phenomenon of these places that get strategic housing development permission being flipped by speculators to make extortionate profits while delivering no housing.

The Chivers site is a disgrace. They lied to the local community and local representatives. Another one in my area I have discovered is the former Jet garage site in Deansgrange, bought by Hyundai. A vehicle run by Hyundai, Dalton Investments, got an SHD three years ago on a site that has been derelict for more than a decade and have flipped it recently. Yet in the last week or so, the Government has said the plan to abolish the SHD planning process, which was supposed to be imminent, has been postponed. How can the Taoiseach explain that when it is clear SHDs are a mechanism for property speculators to make money, get planning permissions, inflate the value of their assets and, in many cases, flip them? They have nothing to do with delivering the public and affordable housing we need. Why is the Government extending the SHD process, which is completely discredited, has done nothing to address the housing crisis and only benefits speculators?

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