Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and Minister of State for being here and I wish them luck in their portfolios. I appreciate the opportunity to focus on the Housing Commission report and on housing today. I agree with the view of the commission that we cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach to housing delivery, and that we need a critical mass of social, affordable and cost-rental housing. I will put forward my view about how we go about that. If we want communities to stop pushing back on planning applications for apartments, we have to make them available to everyone in those communities. I understand why apartments have been bulk bought by private funds or bulk funded from State funding. Financing apartments is different from financing houses. Upfront funding is required and, in turn, that has led to larger swathes of build to rent apartments and opportunities for larger approved housing bodies. However, I still believe in the principle and benefits of mixed tenure for stronger and integrated communities. We have to get better at delivering that through apartments as well as housing developments in local communities.

There were 4,005 dwelling completions across three electoral areas in Dublin West in the past five years. In the Castleknock local electoral area, there have been 689 dwelling completions. Two build-to-rent complexes, Balroy Hall and U Clonsilla, stand 2.7 km apart. They comprise 403 apartments in total, with monthly rents ranging from €1,695 for a studio to €3,274 for a three-bedroom apartment. We do not need any more build-to-rent apartments in what is a compact area where there is huge demand for other types of housing.

We are also putting more money than ever into public housing and housing activation. While we focus on activating the 50,000 apartments that have planning permission and ensuring a future pipeline of supply, we must also talk about how we ensure those apartments are available to buy and rent, available for cost-rental and affordable purchase and available for all types of social housing and all kinds of people who need it, including smaller AHBs, housing for older people and those with disabilities. One size fits all does not work for sustainable community development, whether that is in Clonsilla, Ongar, Castleknock, Hollystown or Tyrellstown. As the report states, housing stock must be responsive to needs, the right type in the right location and the right volume. At the moment I am not sure if housing types and housing tenure are being measured or monitored enough at local level. Our planning authorities could get much more involved in ensuring tenure mix.

The commission's report refers to the timely integrated delivery of infrastructure as the basic foundation for housing. Again, I agree. The Government is setting up a new strategic housing initiative office, as recommended by the commission, and publishing the national planning framework to allow the zoning of more land. However, we have to move faster on land zoned for housing. Dunsink lands in Dublin west are designated as a long-term strategic reserve and require the preparation of a local statutory plan, but Fingal County Council has indicated slow timelines for progress. I understand this is a detailed and complex analysis and is work that requires costings, but we have to be able to prioritise strategically important landbanks suitable for housing within the M50 and in proximity to road and rail infrastructure that could provide up to 7,000 housing units. We have to ensure that as our housing targets grow, so too do transport infrastructure, childcare places, disability services and schools with functioning forward planning data based on our local area instead of national trends. While this may be for another day, a review of the childcare guidelines for local authorities is past urgent. The decision to move a new school in temporary accommodation in Barnwell, Dublin 15, outside of its catchment to an entirely new area of Dublin 15, even though that land is zoned for nearly 3,000 homes, seems illogical. Plans to close off level crossings across railway lines to traffic in residential areas without a comprehensive traffic management plan may need additional work.

As the report states, we need greater collaboration and co-ordination for infrastructure or places like Dublin West will continue to fall victim to piecemeal development and patchwork infrastructure.

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