Labour Group to reject private development of Oscar Traynor lands
“The Labour Group on Dublin City Council rejects the proposal to tender the development of the Oscar Traynor lands to Glenveigh Living Ltd.
“While the proposal presents a high quality attractive development, it sees us trade half of the total housing units (428) for the building of community amenities and infrastructure. This does not sufficiently maximise the long-term public housing benefit this large site could provide. Of additional concern is that the proposal does not give a guarantee that none of the units will end up in the hands of profit driven investors.
“Since the tendering process for the development of these lands was first initiated in January 2017 our housing landscape has significantly worsened. We have failed to meaningfully bring down the number of those on our social housing waiting lists and the homelessness numbers continue to remain stubbornly high.
“For renters, the average rent in Dublin in Q1 2017 was €1,677 (Daft.ie) and it now stands at €2,039 (Qs Report Daft.ie)—an increase of 22%. We must respond to these changes and this requires a shift in how we develop our finite public land.
“The Oscar Traynor development has the potential to provide social and affordable housing for those struggling to keep a secure, long term, affordable roof over their heads and we believe this is not best served by trading half of the site for private development.
Cllr. Alison Gilliland, Chair of the Dublin City Council Housing SPC, said: “We must draw a line in the sand and shift our local housing policy away from sacrificing the full potential of our land to the private developer and become the lead housing developer ourselves.
She continued: “We believe Dublin City Council has the capacity and expertise to realise this policy shift and we call on the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to work with Dublin City Council to scale up our ambition and deliver high quality attractive public housing and the necessary community amenities on the Oscar Traynor lands for the benefit of the citizens of Dublin.