Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The CSO published the summary report for census 2022 yesterday. We know that households are required by law to fill in the census. They are routinely told that this is done in order to provide and plan for services. Those services do not take account of tenure type, but it matters. There have been big changes in recent years, particularly in build-to-rent schemes. In 2022, for example, 82% of planning applications in Dublin city were for build-to-rent, up from 15% in 2018. Build-to-rent properties are of a lower standard because of Government regulation than build-to-purchase properties. In the Dublin city development plan, the Dublin city manager said that the long-term viability of apartment blocks was in question because of this standard, and that more diverse and higher quality apartments were needed to future-proof the city.

Tenure type matters. It can influence who lives in an area and what kind of services are needed. For example, a large young mobile population will require a very different type of service from a family who wants to put down roots. What is occurring is that traditional greenfield housing is being provided in suburban and commuter belt areas in the greater Dublin area. The same profile of development is also being seen in Cork. More people now live in the three outer counties of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow than in Dublin city. That is the second census in which this has been noted. The first home scheme and the help-to-buy scheme are aimed at first-time purchasers who will purchase a new-build property. The problem is that they cannot get a home to purchase in Dublin city and second-hand homes do not quality. That means that, for example, we do not reuse schools or other facilities in our cities, and our public transport system is constructed for a type of development that is not occurring.

In the 1996 census figures, Dublin city accounted for 13% of the national population. Over the last 25 years, that has reduced - I emphasise the word "reduced" - to 11.5% in the most recent census. In the suburbs, Dún Laoghaire, south Dublin and Fingal accounted for 15.8% of the national population in 1996, but now account for 16.9%. That is an increase of a little more than 1% and Fingal accounts for most of that. The three outer counties I have mentioned, where a great deal of new housing is happening on greenfield sites, accounted for 9.6% of the population in 1996 and now account for 12.2% of the population. We are building the perfect doughnut. We are building an American car-dependent city, and we are doing so based on Government policy. It is a place where we have to keep on repeatedly building schools, where people cannot get on GP lists, and where there is a dearth of facilities.

Our transport planning is based on what we would like to see rather than what is occurring. As I have said, we are building the perfect doughnut. The overdominance of low-standard build-to-rent properties is driving this. There are very expensive rents and insecure tenures. The people who are benefiting are the funds. There is a double-spend in having to renew services in suburbs and commuter belt areas. In 2022, more houses were built to rent than were built for sale but it can be seen that they are not necessarily built in places where there are services. The national planning framework, which underpins the national development plan, is undermined by virtue of this type of tenure and the absence of real choice for people where there are services.

The other thing is that the market is dictating. For example, the Kildare and Wicklow development plans are being challenged by big developers because they want more of these greenfield sites. The market is deciding what needs to happen in the future as specified by the NDP and by the unsustainable pattern of tenure. We must look at this and rebalance it. We need to get a better pattern of growth so it is not only focused on greenfield sites. We need to have consolidation in the city centres. Tenure matters. People want to purchase, but they also want to purchase where they want to live. That is not available to many people. Some of that has to do with cost, but some of it is to do with favouring funds that are delivering an unsustainable type of development that people are walking away from. They are voting with their feet.

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