Paschal Donohoe (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House and thank him for taking this matter which concerns the current status of the inner city Dublin communities that were affected by the collapse of public private partnership projects. When the process collapsed a number of weeks ago, the issue appropriately generated a significant profile both politically and in the media. In the meantime, however, two factors have arisen which prompted me to raise this motion on the Adjournment and seek a comment from the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. First, there is a continuing lack of information for the communities concerned as to what the next stage of the project will be. This is not meant, nor should it be taken, as a criticism of Dublin City Council, but that council now finds itself dealing with a scale of issues that goes beyond anything it could have expected. The situation is placing the council in an extremely difficult position, while it is seeking to provide leadership to the local community on the timing of future plans. Factors such as inter-bank lending and the amount of debt that development companies may incur are beyond the council's control. The council is finding it difficult to ascertain what the next appropriate step is and, more importantly, to take any such steps.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government must take as active a role as possible in supporting Dublin City Council to resolve this issue for the sake of the communities involved. Last Friday, I had a number of engagements with the affected communities and it is difficult to overstate the degree of despair among those involved in the projects. These people have spent many years engaging in a process to come up with good designs for their local communities, which have been under great pressure due to anti-social behaviour and local economic decline. The plan was swept away just as there was a glimmer of hope and local people were looking forward to seeing the projects come to fruition. In one case, buildings that were due to be replaced were demolished. The Government should visibly and proactively support the work of the city council in trying to bring the projects to a quick conclusion.

I will conclude with an observation of a resident to whom I spoke this morning about this issue. I also raised this matter on today's Order of Business. He made the point that for many years residents in such communities have been eating dinner on their knees because of the small size of their homes and the conditions therein. Dublin City Council is facing a severe problem that affects these local communities. It is vital for the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, together with the leadership and expertise that the Government should be able to muster, to do all it can to support the council and the residents in tackling this grave problem. I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could confirm that the Government recognises the scale and gravity of this issue. More importantly, however, the Minister of State should update the House on what the Government can do to resolve this matter, both for the council and the residents who have been so gravely disappointed.