Richard Boyd Barrett demands answers on O'Devney Gardens costs
Richard Boyd Barrett pressed the Tánaiste on the O'Devney Gardens development, arguing the State is set to hand 14 acres to a private developer in return for 192 social housing units at excessive cost. He challenged a cited figure of €100 million and called for clarity on the true public cost.
Details of the proposal
The speech noted that Dublin City Council will revisit the O'Devney Gardens scheme on Monday, describing a proposal to transfer 14 acres to a private developer, with 192 social housing units provided in return and the remainder of the site given to the developer to profit from.
Cost breakdown cited by Boyd Barrett
He calculated that dividing €100 million by 192 units would mean about €520,000 per social housing unit. Citing a paper from Mel Reynolds, he added that excluding the site value lost to the private developer, the real cost per unit could be between €583,000 and €683,000.
Alternatives and comparisons
Boyd Barrett contrasted those figures with other options mentioned in the speech - saying the State could build on its own land for about €220,000 per unit, or refurbish the original units for roughly €100,000 each - and described the proposed deal as a "shocking handover of money, land and assets" resulting in fewer social homes than the original scheme.
Responses and ministerial claims
He asked the minister to confirm the figures and challenged the ministerial defence, which said the development would deliver more than 800 homes with 50% for social and affordable housing and that financial arrangements were a matter for Dublin City Council. Boyd Barrett rejected that defence as ideological resistance to delivering homes for people in the city.
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Tanaiste, on Monday, Dublin City Council will revisit the issue of the O'Devney Gardens development, a development where the Government are backing plans to hand over the entire site to a private developer, 14 acres, in return for 192 social housing units, with the rest of it being given over to the private developer to profit from. Now, in advance of that meeting, I think the Minister needs to tell us how much this is costing the public. He has mentioned a figure of €100 million. Now, if you divide 192 social housing units into €100 million, that means each of those social housing units are going to cost €520,000, if, as Mel Reynolds suggested to me in a paper this week, that does not include the site value lost from handing over those sites to the private developer, Bartra, the actual cost for what will be less social housing units that were in the original O'Devney Gardens will be between €583,000 and €683,000 per unit. This is when the State could build on its own land for €220,000 per unit, or a refurb of the original units would have cost about €100,000, right? If this is true, this is absolutely shocking, shocking handover of money, land and assets to a private developer, and then we are going to pay extortionate prices for less social housing than were in the original O'Devney Gardens. Can the Minister tell us if this is true? Let's do one, two, three. What's going to be built here is more than 800 homes. 50% of these homes will be for social and affordable housing, but crucially, we'll have a mix of all types of housing across this site. The financial arrangements are a matter for Dublin City Council, but we have put the resources in place to support the building of these homes. And yet again, your ideology is standing in the way of the delivery of homes for people in this city, which are so badly needed, and that's what we're trying to do. Let's do it. Let's do it.
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