Seanad debates
Tuesday, 10 December 2002
Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill, 2002: Second Stage.
It could not work because, if a builder who was intending to build 100, 200 or 500 houses had to set aside 20% of them for social housing and have 50% of the development completed within two years, he would have needed rocks in his head to start out on the road. That is why nobody did any building. It is not rocket science. If a developer had to set aside 20% of the land for social housing and have 50% of the development completed within two years, why would he even bother to pay millions of euro for development land? That he had two or three good years before that would not serve as a justification. He would certainly not take the risk. How could he have asked his bank manager to bankroll a development of this kind, 50% of which he had to have completed within two years? No bank manager in the country would have backed such a project.
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