Richard Boyd Barrett: Housing crisis worsens as public land stalls
Richard Boyd Barrett spoke on the worsening housing crisis, criticizing failures to provide infrastructure that would allow public lands to be developed for social and affordable housing. He warned that public sites are stuck, the private sector is slowing, and other infrastructure projects face delays or unresolved claims.
Housing crisis and public land
He cited an example from Dunleary-Ratdown County Council where seven major sites identified and zoned for public and affordable housing have barely progressed - only one has moved somewhat but no bricks have been laid. He said the overwhelming majority of sites are stalled because infrastructure has not been put in place, which prevents housing delivery and deepens the crisis.
Infrastructure failures and Irish Water
He placed much of the blame on failures to install necessary services, saying problems in putting in infrastructure are in large part down to Irish Water not providing water infrastructure. He also noted reduced planning fees in 2019 as evidence the private sector is doing less building and warned private delivery is expected to slow further in 2020.
National Broadband Plan status
He recalled delays caused when a bidder sought an extension and submitted additional maps, and said the national broadband plan is now with the European Commission for state aid clearance. He said a positive outcome would allow a contract to be signed before the end of the year and for connections to homes, businesses and farms in rural areas to begin next year.
National Children's Hospital update
He said the budget set in December 2018 has not changed, while the contractor has submitted claims that are yet to be adjudicated. He pointed to visible progress on site - scaffolding at roof level - and noted the urgent care centre at Connolly is open, outpatients are fully operating and the urgent care service is reducing pediatric waiting lists by about 30 percent.
Electric vehicle targets and supports
He described the government's electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid target as ambitious but potentially deliverable over the next decade. He said a million people will change or buy cars in that period, underlined the need to invest in charging points, and noted grants and falling vehicle costs will help drive uptake.
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The housing crisis in this country has reached absolutely dire proportions and is frankly from where I'm standing certainly in my part of Dublin just getting worse every single day and there are many reasons for this but one of them is the failure to put in place the infrastructure that is necessary in order to develop public lands for social and affordable housing and we discovered our representatives in Dunleary-Ratdown County Council for example discovered but I suspect this is the case right across the country that of seven sites major sites in Dunleary-Ratdown that were identified in 216 and zoned for public and affordable housing only one of them has progressed somewhat although no bricks have been laid so nothing actually being built but the majority, six of those sites, the overwhelming majority, there's problems in putting in infrastructure much of it down to Irish water not putting in the water infrastructure so nothing moves, houses don't get built and the housing crisis gets worse and maybe your government is hoping that the private sector will come in and save the day but it was also reported in Dunleary-Ratdown that planning fees, the amount of planning fees we're getting in from the private sector has reduced in 2019 i.e. the private sector is doing less building and they expect it is going to go down further in 2020 so the private sector is slowing down in terms of housing delivery in a key part of Dublin affected by the housing crisis very likely many other parts of Dublin and elsewhere and public land zoned for housing development not moving at all because of the lack of infrastructure are you concerned about that? have you any explanation for that? do you think that is indicative of a failure of your policy to actually deliver the infrastructure necessary for housing and the affordable housing that we so desperately need to address the housing crisis in relation to the national broadband plan the term challenge wasn't the correct term for me to use imagine sought an extension and by seeking an extension that caused a delay at that point in time an extension during which they want to submit additional maps and so on to the best of my knowledge there's been no revision to the state intervention area the national broadband plan is now with the european commission which is a required process obviously because to get state aid clearance it has to go to the european commission but we look forward to a positive outcome and if we get a positive outcome that will enable us to sign the contract before the end of the year and next year start connecting homes and businesses and farms all over rural Ireland to high-speed broadband and that is our objective and that's what we want to get done in terms of the national children's hospital there's been no change to the budget allocated in december 2018 the contractor has however submitted claims and these have yet to be adjudicated but it's not unusual in a major construction project for a contractor to submit claims if they believe they've had to carry out work that was beyond the contract the good news is and i would invite anyone who's an interest in the children's hospital to go and visit the site the scaffolding is now roof level it really is shooting up as a building it's extremely impressive that we're at that point now and the first element of the children's hospital the urgent care centre at connelly has already opened not fully commissioned but it is already open the outpatients is operating fully the urgent care centre is operating monday to friday on a nine to six basis and it's already making a difference the number of children waiting to see a general pediatrician has fallen by 30 percent already already having a very significant impact on waiting lists because those children who were waiting a long time to see a general pediatrician can now be seen in the dedicated outpatient department in the in the Blanchetown urgent care centre and as a new service of course as well for people living in west Dublin and Meath and so on who no longer have to take their kids to Temple Street and can take their kids to really modern facilities in Connelly instead Tala will open next year so this is a project that has been promised for as long as I can remember I think it was first moved when I was a medical student and I'm really proud of the fact that we're now getting I'm really proud of the fact that we're now we're now getting it getting it done and delivering on when other governments failed to do so governments other governments did fail to do so there was there was an abortive attempt to build a national children's hospital at the matter which failed so other governments did fail did fail to deliver this project this government is delivering it and I totally appreciate that sometimes when governments fail it isn't necessarily their fault but I'm not sure you acknowledge that very often in relation to the target for electrical vehicles and plug-in hybrid electrical vehicles it is a very ambitious target and it's no secret that many people at official level thought it too ambitious but often were criticised for not having ambitious targets enough and this is one occasion where we have gone for an ambitious target we do think it is deliverable over the course of the next ten years roughly a million people will change their car or buy a new car it's not inconceivable that we'll get to a point where the majority of those will opt for an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid electric vehicle instead and we need to invest in the charging points to make that possible that's happening there are grants available to encourage people to do so and as well as that the cost of those vehicles is coming down all the time and I think that'll be when you start to see the big change with people opting for them instead On the issue of housing on public land, my view is that we should use public land for housing and that is being done and we should use public land for all of the public for social housing for people who want to buy their own home and also for affordable and cost rental and I welcome the fact that Dublin City Council decided to vote to go ahead with the O'Devony Gardens project last night because that will allow 800 new homes to be built on a site very near the city centre homes that people can buy, social housing for those on the housing list and also homes that people can rent and I think that's a good step forward and it's regrettable that the council has delayed it for so long up until now but I'm glad to see that it's finally now going ahead
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