Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I express my condolences to the family of Brother Kevin Crowley and in particular his colleagues who he worked with. As a freeman of Dublin city, he was a Cork man who made a huge impact on our city. I want to acknowledge that today.

I raise bundle 3 and the Minister’s decision not to proceed with the tendering process related to that bundle. I served on Dublin City Council for ten years and for the best part of those ten years, we had public sites on which we wanted to build homes. We wanted to do that in a way that provided mixed communities. In recent years, Housing for All has given Dublin City Council the ability to build those mixed communities on those public sites through cost-rental, affordable and social housing. Across my constituency, many sites are proceeding on that basis, Oscar Traynor Road being the largest. People are delighted to see construction taking place and homes being built.

It was with some disappointment that we saw the Minister decide not to proceed with bundle 3. While that bundle included nearly 500 homes, 200 of those are in my constituency, at Shangan Road and Collins Avenue. That has an impact on the broader bundles that are outstanding, bundles 4 to 7, inclusive, because of the 4,500 housing units across the whole country, over 1,000 are in my constituency. I am, therefore, particularly concerned about the future of these bundles and their delivery.

These bundles do exactly what local authorities should be doing. They involve taking sites with complex issues, resolving those issues and putting them out to tender for construction. The Shangan Road site, for example, is a dedicated older persons’ complex. The Collins Avenue site is the Port Tunnel site which many people will have driven past. On the Church of the Annunciation site, an old church was demolished in partnership with the parish and we were able to identify potential for housing on that site. On Wellmount Road, we had a green space that was the subject of antisocial behaviour and we were able to put in place a solution. On the Collins Avenue bring centre, the DCU site, we relocated an old Dublin City Council depot, created a new one and created a site in the city. In Balcurris, we brought a number of sites together as a bundle. These are all measures the local authority has taken, on which solutions have been brought forward using the tools available in Housing for All.

We are very concerned. While we have to have value for money, we also want to see some of these sites, which have full planning permission, proceed.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of housing, with the Minister for housing’s approval, decided not to proceed to award the contract for social housing bundle 3 through a public-private partnership. The basis for that decision was that the cost per unit was more than €1 million and almost double the cost of similar units delivered in 2020. Unit costs at that scale would not be compatible with the overall delivery of what we need in our social housing targets. The Government and the relevant local authorities remain absolutely committed to delivering the social housing that the bundle was being designed to provide for. The Department of housing is now working with its programme leaders, the National Development Finance Agency and the four local authorities, to urgently advance these projects through an alternative procurement and delivery strategy. The Department is also initiating a review of future social housing through bundles to consider all options and determine the optimal procurement and delivery strategy for the Exchequer.

I acknowledge the need in the Deputy’s community and the fact that these projects have received planning permission. However, when the cost per unit escalates to €1 million per home it will have knock-on consequences for other social housing projects down the line, both this year and in future years, in the context of the overall allocation for social housing. We need to maximise the delivery of supply in how we manage the social housing allocation in total. Part of that has been reflected in the Government's response of making increased provision for social and affordable homes as an in-year budgetary decision this year. We are cognisant of the local need. That is why there is an urgency in the Department of housing to work with the delivery partners on how we can identify an alternative procurement and delivery strategy to deliver much-needed homes in the Deputy’s community.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. As I say, when people see sites under construction they have some hope and belief that things are changing. When planning went out for these sites they saw the designs and plans for them. There is an expectation. I welcome that the Minister is taking this seriously and urgently. I also agree with the Minister. As a member of the Committee of Public Accounts, I will not stand over the Government spending more than €1 million per unit. I can understand the difficulty. Just because a developer puts in a figure does not mean the Government has to pay that amount to deliver. I accept that but what we cannot accept is any significant delay. I ask the Minister for public expenditure and the Minister for housing to ensure the Dublin local authorities and the other local authorities impacted are presented quickly with a solution-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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They have been cancelled.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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-----and the sites with full planning permission are given priority so we can get shovels into the ground and these homes can be built. They are the way forward for how we provide housing. That is what Housing for All is all about. We have hit a speed bump. We cannot pay any figure that is presented to us but we also have to act with urgency to find an alternative.

Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge the urgent local need to advance these particular projects and also the fact that they have full planning permission. The Department of housing is now working with the National Development Finance Agency and all the local authorities to see how we can advance these projects through an alternative delivery strategy. They are also reviewing future public-private partnerships bundles so that we can deliver social homes at a better unit cost and deliver more of them with the overall Exchequer allocation that is made in the medium term.

I will reflect on what the Deputy said and pass on his comments to the Minister, Deputy Browne, who is keen to advance these units with the delivery partners and local authorities.