Affordable rental and greenway funding
Senator Fitzpatrick called for an early affordable rental scheme to address housing supply and the wider housing crisis. Senator Dolan welcomed retrofitting and greenway investment, especially for fuel-poor areas in the Midlands and Galway.
I ask the Deputy Leader to ask the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, to bring forward an affordable rental scheme early in autumn. Ensuring that the housing crisis is tackled is a key objective of the Government. The issue of supply is fundamental to achieving that aim.
Critically, the State must address the issue of supply. The commitment of Fianna Fáil, the Green Party and Fine Gael is to use public land to deliver public housing. Key to that objective is an affordable rental scheme. A prime example of the barriers to delivering affordable rental is a site in my own constituency, O'Devaney Gardens. For those who do not know it, it is a 14-acre site less than 5 km from O'Connell Street. It is zoned and serviced for housing. It has not only public transportation but electricity, water and sewerage. It has lain derelict for ten years more or less. As a city councillor, I and my colleagues fought to have public housing delivered on public lands. Unfortunately, Fine Gael would not provide full funding for the development of that site and Sinn Féin wanted to give away 50% of it to a private developer. Fianna Fáil councillors with colleagues from the Green Party, Labour Party and Social Democrats did a deal last year that will deliver 80% social and affordable housing on that land. Some 30% of it has the potential to be affordable rental housing. We need the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government to bring forward an affordable rental scheme that will allow Dublin City Council to move on with Tuath and Clúid, the two approved housing bodies, AHBs, that have been selected, and make it a reality. There is potential for 824 homes on this site. The deal we did will not only deliver homes but a community centre, local employment and apprenticeship opportunities. All of that development is public and will provide good quality, sustainable public homes. I ask the Deputy Leader to ask the Minister to bring forward the affordable rental scheme.
Comment on this
I welcome the just transition retrofitting initiative. A number of local authorities in the midlands and Galway are putting forward funds to retrofit houses in areas affected particularly by job losses in respect of Bord na Móna and ESB. I am looking forward to the 60 homes in Ballinasloe that are going to be retrofitted and how this will impact on the cost of heating. There is a lot of fuel poverty in that area. It will be great to see those costs reduced.
I welcome the investment yesterday of €4.5 million into greenways, especially the Shannon monastic greenway which is going out to Shannonbridge and the Loughrea greenway from Tarmonbarry to Athlone. It is great to see. In particular I welcome the Transport Infrastructure Ireland focus on the route from Dublin to Galway and perhaps further on. It is a priority and a focus for this Government to achieve. The office for the Athlone to Galway section, which is the next priority, is located in Ballinasloe. Public consultation for the whole section from Athlone to Galway city will be open from 10 August. I encourage people with any interest in how important it is to have greenways in our area to consider submitting a consultation. Two venues I would like to highlight in particular are the Shamrock Lodge in Athlone from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on 10 August and the Shearwater on 11 August from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. This will be a public display, so engineers based in Ballinasloe will be putting it out in many locations. It can be seen in local authority offices, particularly in Ballinasloe, from 17 to 21 August. I encourage people to make submissions. It is important to have greenways but to do it by consensus and to have something that is of benefit to all.