Caít Keane (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

One can incentivise bad things too. One has displacement, incentives, out of town developments and other things which did not work. Intervention sometimes does more harm than good but one has to plan. Housing is an important element. The docklands is a huge area in the city and there was a master plan for the new Dublin docklands, though whether it went far enough or high enough is open to debate. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, has said the docklands have the potential to be the Canary Wharf of Dublin.

Until very recently planners believed it could take ten years or more to develop residential property but now they think it could happen much more quickly and the Government has incentivised them by providing money. In my own south Dublin council area, €37 million was provided recently to kickstart a housing programme to address the shortage of housing resulting from the recovery. The master plan for the docklands emphasised the importance of providing at least three-bedroomed apartments suitable for families. Senator Norris said we would be providing tenements but although demographic studies suggest the biggest demand is for smaller, two-bedroomed units we have to ensure families are catered for in the city. They were not catered for heretofore but now we are providing for the housing needs of all.