Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Minister of State and officials for the amazing work. The engagement with the Oireachtas committee has been fantastic. I commend my colleague, Senator Cummins, on his leadership within our party in this area. He has been insightful in his contributions and a great advocate and colleague. I welcome this Bill. It is critical, exactly as described. We need an coimisiún pleanála to be efficient in how it operates and fully resourced to make sure that we meet the timelines set down in the Bill, that we have an efficient planning process, and that anybody who invests in the supply of housing is supported on that route as much as possible in order that we can get decisions and get housing delivered.

I have looked, aghast, at the scandal of go-away money and housing being held up by people looking for payouts. I have been appalled at that. I have found myself in meetings on occasion or with people looking for meetings with me who have absolutely no skin in the game and yet who are objecting to housing. They may not live anywhere near it but have a philosophical or ideological view that is not conducive, particularly in the city or a constituency like Dublin South-Central, where we have to look at density and support a more densely populated area, to having housing that is convenient to the city, usable and developed. We have developments there and in Dolphin's Barn that started years ago but which will not be completed until 2035. There are elements in my home constituency that are shocking in their delays. I know that Deputy Leo Varadkar, as Taoiseach, intervened in Dolphin's Barn and got the residents there to have a meeting with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State's predecessor to try to get some clarity and to roll out housing in a quicker way. The Land Development Agency will start delivering on the housing and commence building on Donore Avenue before the end of this year. That is to be highly commended.

I like that we have a balance in the legislation to stop spurious judicial reviews and to stop spurious objectors, while also safeguarding those who have skin in the game and need to have a say. I get the balance. We have a dense residential unit that has reduced parking spaces because it is maybe near a Luas line and convenient to the city, but those reduced parking spaces can be an issue since there are still jobs where people have to have vehicles, such as a man with a van. It might well be their actual office. There is still a need for parking. There are fears from local residents' associations that such parking, because of the inadequacy of parking spaces, will spill over into the local community and stop access and egress from houses nearby. There are valid things that residents need to raise that are not objections to housing, per se, but are comments on the development and its design. It is important that they have opportunities to give input in that.

One thing that I want to press home is that we need parity of housing supply and infrastructure. We are looking at Merrion Square here, where tea rooms are being built for €1 million. That is being built from development levies by Dublin City Council, while in Drimnagh and Dublin 8, we do not have playing pitches, civic centres, community spaces or any of those things, but we will have a €1 million tea room in Merrion Square. That is an absolute disgrace. Money should be spent locally. There should be a plan that makes sure that that is delivered. That might be a deficiency of the advocacy of the councillors from those local electoral areas in not advocating strongly and not co-operating with the other councillors to make sure that they deliver for their home.The population of Drimnagh is similar to the population of Killarney. They do not have a civic centre. They have a park that is underutilised because there is not lighting or public spaces on it. It is a disgrace. We need libraries, swimming pools and sports in public spaces. We have drug addiction and children being preyed upon when they do not have sporting facilities in the community and in Dublin 8. Sporting Liberties and Dynamic Drimnagh are strong advocates on this. That is a disgrace. I refer to having control of planning and making sure that infrastructure goes in.

Similarly, with childcare, there is idea that we have a provision for childcare to be built within development, yet builders are allowed to discount the number of one-bedroom and two-bedroom homes and get themselves out of the requirement to build childcare.

All of that is not putting the infrastructure that is needed to live in a community ahead and on par with a need for housing. We do not just need shelter; we need communities that are viable and living. I hope this Bill will contribute to that.