John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise a couple of matters relating to An Bord Pleanála. On the one hand, I will compliment the board and, on the other, I will criticise it. To first deal with the criticism, while I acknowledge that significant resources have been applied to the strategic housing development, SHD, process and new legislation will come before the House tomorrow in that respect, it cannot be at the expense of other developments, particularly infrastructure and housing projects. I am aware of two cases in this regard. One of them involves Waterford Airport, which applied for the lengthening and widening of a runway in July 2020, some 16 months ago.A decision was due to issue in February of this year but it is now November and no decision has been made. Likewise, a decision was supposed to be made in respect of a 91-unit housing development in May, but we are awaiting a decision on that too. As my party's housing spokesman in this House, I find it frustrating when developers and people who drive projects must await decisions in that respect. I would appreciate if we could write to the board to have the matter expedited.

By contrast, I compliment An Bord Pleanála on the decision it made yesterday with respect to the 1,592-apartment development on the grounds of Clonliffe College. The project represents an investment of €602 million in the north inner city of Dublin. While I, of course, respect people's right to object to developments, it galls me to see the likes of Deputy Gannon and the leader of Sinn Féin, Deputy McDonald, openly oppose housing developments while, at the same time, they claim their parties are supportive of housing and resolving the housing crisis. One of the few matters people agree on with regard to the housing crisis is that one of the main issues relates to supply, yet the leader of Sinn Féin somehow believes building 1,592 for-rent apartments would make the crisis worse. What sort of logic is that?

At this stage, I have heard all the excuses, whether the developments are supposedly too high, too large or too small, in the wrong place, with too many private units, whether they should be built using a certain delivery mechanism or whether it is the wrong tenure type. The list is endless, but I ask when politicians are going to stand up, acknowledge there is a housing crisis, and not just diagnose the problem but rather do something about it and support housing developments, even when that is the unpopular approach. Every housing unit, whether for owner-occupiers or people to rent, has a positive impact on resolving the housing crisis. It has a circular effect. If somebody moves into a build-to-rent apartment from having lived in a house, that house will be freed up for a family to move into and that has a positive impact. Anyone who says otherwise is either codding themselves or trying to fool the public or does not understand the issue. I am sick and tired of hearing the false platitudes from some in respect of the housing crisis, and I ask them to stand up and be counted when it comes to resolving it.