Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)

As a Shamrock Rovers supporter, I support Senator Ní Chuilinn's congratulations to Pico Lopes. Let us hope he does the league and cup double this year and adds to his great year qualifying for the World Cup.

The Government is going to miss its social and affordable housing targets this year. There is too much red tape holding back councils and approved housing bodies. This is why house prices, rents and homelessness keep rising. Three and a half thousand new homes are due to be built - it could be 3,800 new homes - on the Irish Glass Bottle site over the next ten years and only 300 of those will be public homes.It was recently announced that 57 public homes will be acquired by Dublin City Council in the first phase of the development of the Irish Glass Bottle site. Of course, this is very welcome for the 57 people who will secure a new home on that site. However, the Ringsend and Pearse Street communities deserve better and they deserve more than a meagre 300 units out of the 3,800 new homes planned for the Irish Glass Bottle site. There is a drastic shortage of public and affordable housing in the Ringsend and Pearse Street areas. Too often developers are allowed to undermine and circumvent their Part V obligations in order to further line their pockets, with the State failing to fight for the best interests of working class communities. Residents in Ringsend and Irishtown have fought for the last decade to ensure this site will include public and affordable housing and it is important that the local community not be ignored and sidelined. The Irish Glass Bottle site has the potential to completely change the character of the area and it is vital that this development proceed in a way that adds to the community rather than replaces or displaces it. There is a real concern that development of facilities and services will not match the increase in population. Cambridge Football Club is experiencing that issue. It is already struggling to find enough space to cater for the ever-increasing number of young boys and girls playing football. Dublin City Council is unable to support them with resources. The council needs to plan ahead for the increased number of children that will be in the expanded community and the Government needs to support the council in doing this and support clubs like Cambridge.

The long delay of the delivery of the Luas is another huge concern. The Irish Glass Bottle site is only accessible off the Sean Moore Road, one road, and that is already like a car park for hours each morning and evening. Residents in the new houses take their lives in their hands trying to exit their estate because of the poor planning on this road. The delivery of the Luas is really important. It was promised and then withdrawn. It is really important to new and existing residents of Ringsend and the Irish Glass Bottle site. People across Dublin, particularly the south inner city, have been deprived of access to adequate housing for generations. This offers a real opportunity and the Government is not taking it.