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A MOTION DUE before the Dáil this evening will call on the government to intervene in a major housing development in Dublin to ensure that ‘genuinely affordable’ homes are delivered.
The 37-acre Poolbeg site in Ringsend, Dublin 4, is one of the last large-scale pieces of development land left in Dublin city with up to 3,800 homes planned. The Ronan Real Estate Group, which is developing the site, has said 1,000 of the homes built on the old Irish Glass Bottle site will be social and affordable homes.
The site forms part of the Poolbeg Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) which local councillors approved in 2019. While there is a commitment on the levels of social and affordable housing on the site, an agreement has not yet been reached on how truly affordable homes will be delivered on the site.
Speaking to The Journal earlier this month, Dublin City Council’s head of housing Brendan Kenny expressed concern that the developers may attach a large price tag to these homes.
“House prices will be the issue down there…we just don’t know what the [affordable] prices are going to be. If the prices are €600,000, €700,000, well, then that’s not affordable and we’ll have to see what kind of further intervention is needed,” said Kenny.
Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson Eoin Ó Broin will this evening bring a motion before the Dáil, calling on the Finance, Housing and Transport ministers to intervene and ensure the ‘affordable’ housing that has been committed to is placed on the market at a reasonable price.
“The ministers for housing and transport need to urgently meet with Dublin City Council and the Irish Glass Bottle Housing Action Group for a coherent plan,” Ó Broin told The Journal. “Sources close to Dublin City Council have said central government is not getting involved at all.”
It was reported earlier this year that a deal to purchase a portion of this land from Nama at a significant discount fell apart after Dublin City Council and the Department of Housing failed to agree who should buy it. This portion of land was then included in the Poolbeg development project brought to market by Nama in 2019.
Ó Broin said his party believes that Nama, which retained a 20% interest in the site, should transfer it to the council.
He also said the government has plans for up to €80 million in infrastructure planning locally and this should be considered as a subsidy, because the whole development will benefit from this investment. He said each ‘affordable’ unit should be significantly discounted to recognise this infrastructure funding.
“In exchange for infrastructure funding, which unlocks this development, and through the transfer of land to Dublin City Council, the overall development costs for those units could be reduced dramatically,” he said. “We want the developer to offer a fair price and if they believe the infrastructure funding won’t be released until a fair price is given, that gives the council a stronger bargaining position.”
Ó Broin accused the government of “playing a stand-offish role” in the arrangements for this development and said ministers now need to work with the council to “get a result”.
- With reporting by Cónal Thomas.
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Sick of religion(s) and all the bullshit that goes with them.
But mainly Islam
Almost exclusively Islam.
Alan, never hear of the crusades?
Ever heard of the 21st century.
I defy any of you to give me proof that Islamic extremists have killed more people than the crusades? Bashing Islam and Islam alone is ridiculous. Now the amount of love lost because if any religion through out history would be a staggering figure, I would imagine.
The crusades ended 800 years ago.
Then we evolved into people who can respect the beliefs of others , islam is very much a “with us or against us” thing.
So you are speaking for circa 2.2 billion people with that with or against us comment? There are extreme elements in many religions and religious sects. To brand a whole religion as anything, as you did, is preposterous. Unless you have met, interviewed and have vast intelligence on the while Muslim populous, then I stand corrected.
Put the pompoms away Massimo, it never ceases to amaze me there are so many deluded apologists like yourself out there wiling to defend this Stone Age ideology.
I apologise for no one. I just think it’s a bit rich that you can generalise over 2 billion peoples beliefs and attitudes toward extremism. Whatever floats your boat dude.
George bush is a fairly hardcore Christian and he got a pretty high body count. It’s just that warplanes killing people is less grisly then hacking people to death. And lets not forget the Balkans, the Muslims got a rough time there too. It’s just the Muslim extremists are currently the most prolific. That’s how I see it anyway.
Barbarians. These Fulani herdsmen seem to be cut from the and cloth as Boko Haram.
This is what exactly would happen in Syria if the rebels win the war. Christans would have to flee the Country
Some of the Christian militias in Nigeria and CAR are just as bad as Islamist variations.
The balance of support must fall toward those opposed to death and tribal vengeance. It’s not a religious affiliation, it’s a common perspective of civility and decency. Sadly, barbarism like this is commonplace in conflict areas of the world. Islam is frequently the catalyst.
“Dear God please protect me from your followers”
My religion is better than you religion so I’m gonna kill you.
Your interpretation of a religious text is slightly different my interpretation , so I’m gonna kill you.
@Dario
Where gang of men armed with machetes,entering villages and hacking people into little pieces in Ireland a few years ago?
Yer wasting yer time trying to get your point across to Dario and his ilk Shamen, I’m surprised Petr Tosserov isn’t out cheerleading for the jihadists as usual.
@Dario, Balbriggan, Waterford, Ennis, Ballinasloe etc. etc.
Absolutely atrocious. To do such things in the name of religion. Barbaric fanatical morons
Whear is the proof it was in the name of religion
I’d imagine it was to do with land or livestock, that’s my guess anyway.
Islam – The religion of Peace ! Oh, and beheadings, women as 3rd class citizens being stoned to death, 500 lashes for the slightest indiscretion, kleptocracies, Fatwas, etc….
This has nothing at all to do with religions .a few weeks back christians mutilated muslims and ate body parts , not much media coverage : these evil acts do not represent Islam or all muslims , no more than the evil acts carried out by non muslims dosent represent all non muslims . Media really love highlighting things when a muslim is involved . . These crimes are not carried out because of religion they are carried out by power , greed , money . .
They taste like pork I believe.
Possibly you have a point. However can you name even a couple of Christian countries which have as strict as laws as Sharia and where just being born to another religion even if you don’t practise it, can result in you being potentially jailed ! Also, which Christian countries promote female genital mutilation or young pre-teenage girls being married off to old men !
Such a shame.
This reads more like a Nigerian “Heavens Gate” than a simply being a sectarian tragedy. Sounds like somebody needs to respect land ownership – but it’s far from clear who that should be.
It’s sickening that this still happens and no one helps it highlights the evil in certain parts of the world to hack innocent people to death who have nothing anyway these are evil people.
it’s heart breaking when we can’t stop this.
Religion brings nothing but misery to people.
I am amazed that people will down on ( Fri,Sat or Sunday and then go out and butcher other people in the name of God , an entity that more likely does not exist at all.
have your say