Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I have to raise the slow pace of delivery on social and affordable housing. Some progress is being made and I welcome the announcement that the Land Development Agency, LDA, has received planning permission for more than 800 homes in Dundrum in south Dublin.

However, there is concern about the capacity to deliver on announcements once they are made. I refer in particular to an issue in my constituency because there was a clear commitment to 900 social and affordable homes on the Irish Glass Bottle site in Poolbeg. This commitment was made over five years ago yet at the weekend, there were revelations in The Business Postthat the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is ceding more and more latitude to a consortium charged with building homes on that site and as a result, a paltry 25 affordable homes will be delivered in the first phase of development, instead of 85. Planning permission was granted over a year ago for the first 570 units and we had understood that more of those would be in the cohort that would be social and affordable. Labour Party councillors were instrumental in negotiating the original deal to ensure much-needed social and affordable homes. Can the Taoiseach guarantee that we will see the required proportion of the homes built in Poolbeg being social and affordable homes?

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