Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Housing remains the number one issue for ordinary people. Prospective home buyers are being picked off by the vulture funds, and this Government's failures in housing have only increased the concerns of local communities. People who have grown up in their community want the opportunity to continue to live in there, near their support structures but without affordable housing, communities will continue to be pulled apart. The Irish Glass Bottle site gave hope to so many in Ringsend and Irishtown. It gave them the hope that they would finally be able to buy affordable homes in their community, as promised. However, with each passing month, concerns about affordability grow. The Irish Glass Bottle site will have 950 homes on it, a mix of social and affordable homes. However, it is hard to see how the how the so-called affordable homes on the site will actually be affordable. The well-informed speculation is that the homes on the site will come in at between €600,000 and €700,000 each. Even with the Government subvention, that will not be affordable for ordinary families. The only people that will be able to afford the homes on the site are vulture funds and the extremely wealthy. I ask the Minister to give an assurance to the community that vulture funds will not be allowed to buy up all of the homes on the Irish Glass Bottle site.

The Government needs to put the construction of the new Dodder bridge on hold until these apartments are made affordable. If that is what it takes to make them affordable then it must be done. There is still no affordable housing scheme in place. The community has waited far too long for these new homes. The residents of Seán Moore Road are enduring construction noise from 7 a.m. each day, and the construction works are so extensive that they are concerned for the structure of their own homes. I ask the Minister to meet the developer to get answers for the local community.

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