Special housing meeting described ‘a damp squib’
By Aideen O'Flaherty
A SPECIAL meeting that was held by South Dublin County Council to address the need for housing within the county has divided opinion, with one councillor describing it as “a damp squib”.
The meeting was called by Mayor Mark Ward, who is also a Sinn Féin councillor for Clondalkin, and he stated during his acceptance speech, when he was elected as mayor last July, that housing would be his “number one priority”.
A special meeting was held by South Dublin County Council
Figures released at the meeting showed that the overall number of people with a need for social housing in the areas covered by South Dublin County Council has reached a total of 7,155, with 1,102 of those being people who submitted applications for social housing this year.
The meeting also looked at the rate of housing supply and sites under consideration, including infill sites and large capacity sites, for future development.
A presentation about Part 8 developments, which requires public consultation as part of the planning process, that have been approved and sites that are being progressed for Part 8 also formed part of the meeting.
Mayor Ward told The Echo: “I’ve challenged the council to bring forward Part 8 developments at every council meeting until the end of the year.”
Ruth Nolan, an Independents 4 Change councillor for Lucan, tabled a motion at the meeting where she called on the council to extend the income threshold for eligibility for a council home, to increase the €35,000 threshold for single people to €45,000 and the €42,000 for couples to €60,000.
Cllr Nolan, whose motion was carried, told The Echo: “You have a cohort of people in their 20s and 30s who are being crucified, their income is going on private renting and, on their salaries, they might not be eligible for a mortgage.
“If there was an increase in the threshold to let these people get on the council list so they can get the HAP Scheme and pay differential rent at 10 per cent of their income, then they might have some hope of saving for their own home.”
We need more rent controls
Cllr Nolan added: “We need more rent controls, and we need to be building affordable housing a lot quicker.”
Guss O’Connell, an Independent councillor for Lucan, tabled a motion calling on the council to develop between 750 and 1,000 affordable and social housing units, primarily in Adamstown, and that the subject land could be acquired by the council either by land swap or purchase.
Cllr O’Connell, whose motion was defeated, said: “Adamstown was zoned in 1998 and today we have less than 2,500 of a possible 9,000 houses built.
“Public money has been invested in infrastructure, so let’s accelerate the build and in the process develop the Adamstown community and provide houses for the long-suffering home seekers.”
Mayor Ward said he voted against Cllr O’Connell’s motion as Cllr O’Connell was “looking to do land swaps [where the council swaps public land for private land] from Clonburris to Adamstown SDZ.
“That, to me, doesn’t sound feasible. If we did a land swap it could scupper the SDZ.”
Cllr O’Connell described the meeting as “a damp squib”, stating that “while the executive gave very informative, if recycled, presentations on the ongoing work of the council, [the] proposals from the members were quite flat and lacked imagination.”
However, Cllr O’Connell did add that the meeting was “very important” because housing is “a crisis issue at the minute”.
Reflecting on the meeting and the looming local elections, which will take place in May, Mayor Ward said: “The purpose of the meeting was just to have an open and frank discussion about housing and to try to work collaboratively as a council.
“I’ve no doubt there will be councillors who will play politics [with social housing proposals], but I’ll be urging them to put the people first.”
