Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South-Central, Sinn Fein)

I was mystified by the approach of the Government to housing. I was mystified during the election campaign but I am twice as mystified now. From committing to things that would make things worse, it has moved on to implementing things that would make things worse, such as the rent pressure zones and effectively getting rid of crucial tenant protections such as the tenant in situ scheme. That complements the fact that the Government's policy is not really addressing the key obstacles to housing and will not deliver housing at an affordable level. Many people in my city and county of Cork and across the country are doing everything right. They are doing everything they can. They are saving, working, trying to improve their education and training and so on, but housing remains out of reach for them. There is a whole category of people who do not qualify for social housing but the affordable housing schemes will not do anything for them. The schemes are not within the reach of those people. That is also held back by the infrastructure issues.

I have talked to small and large builders and developers. They are frustrated with Uisce Éireann and compare it to the times of city and county councils when things were far from perfect, but the difference now is that it is slowing everything down. It is blocking crucial housing infrastructure.

I also flag to the Minister the issue of the R624. The Minister was in the docklands in Cork recently. There is huge potential there. We need to get it right. Housing there needs to be affordable. It cannot only be apartments for people on high incomes. A community needs to be built there. One of the key sites there - the Gouldings site - will potentially have 1,300 units. The Gouldings site cannot go ahead until Gouldings can relocate to farther out in the harbour. That is being held up because of the condition of the R624, which includes Belvelly Bridge, a 200-year-old bridge. There has not been enough investment in that infrastructure. It might seem like a local road, but it potentially unlocks a key strategic site. I urge the Minister to meet Cork County Council and Cork City Council to figure this out. There is a huge site there that has massive potential. It needs to deliver affordable housing and communities, but it will not deliver anything until the issue with the R624 is resolved.

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