Máire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I raised this issue because of the delay and difficulties in which MDY Construction has found itself, and I seek clarification. In April, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, attended, as did I, the turning of the sod at Dolphin Park, which would provide senior citizens with new, modernised units. The present accommodation there is unfit for habitation and, therefore, we were providing senior citizens with fit-for-purpose accommodation. Everyone was excited and delighted to be there, and the elderly people, in particular, were looking forward to it. They were looking out their window at the site, watching the progress when, all of a sudden, the subcontractors went in at the beginning of September and pulled out all their equipment, saying that they had not been paid and could not stand over not being paid, having their equipment used or remaining at the site.

There is also a half-built primary care centre in Rialto, Dublin 8. The walls have been put up, in any case. It is under the same construction firm, as are the social housing units in Cherrywood, which is also in Dublin South-Central. The houses were due to be handed out approximately two or three weeks ago, people had been told that this or that house would be theirs, and they had managed to negotiate with their landlords to continue their tenancy in rented accommodation because there were some delays. They had put their children into local schools and were delighted that this social housing had come to fruition, as some 95% of it has, yet many of the units still have to be allocated and keys must be handed over.

I accept that the Minister was working towards a solution and trying to ensure these social housing buildings, the primary care centre and the senior housing units would be completed as soon as possible given the overall homelessness and housing situation. Will the Minister of State update the House on the difficulties that MDY Construction faces, and how, with his assistance and support, these units will be delivered?