Sinn Féin to oppose sale, support council development of Oscar Traynor Rd site

Sinn Féin say they will be supporting the retention of the Oscar Traynor Road site and its development for housing by Dublin City Council as agreed by the Council in March.

The party’s group of Councillors has confirmed that they will not support the proposed disposal of the land to the developer Glenveagh which is on the agenda for the City Council meeting today.

In a joint statement, Sinn Féin Dublin City Councillors Mícheál Mac Donncha and Larry O’Toole said that the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien should now facilitate the delivery of the Council-led plan as the revamped proposal from the developer Glenveagh does not provide affordability in the rental and purchase elements of the scheme.

They said:

“Sinn Féin supports the plan for the development of the Oscar Traynor Road site, led by Dublin City Council, with the site retained in public ownership and delivering 40% social housing, 40% cost/affordable rental and 20% affordable purchase.

“This is what was agreed by the City Council in March.

“The tenure mix is now established as the appropriate mix for the site and represents real progress.

“However, the revamped proposal from the developer Glenveagh, while retaining this tenure mix, does not deliver affordability for the 60% of the units in the development that would be cost rental and affordable purchase.

“We acknowledge that earnest efforts have been made, particularly by the convenor of the Council Working Group, Ardmhéara Alison Gilliland, to explore all avenues to affordability but in our view the Glenveagh plan cannot provide it.

“€1500 per month rent for a two-bed apartment for a couple with net disposable income of €40,000 per annum is 45% of their net/disposable income and is not affordable.

“A €255,000 purchase price, plus up to €100,000 of an affordable housing subsidy which must be repaid to the Council at some future point for a two-bed unit is not affordable.

“The true price of a so-called affordable unit would be at least €355,000, nowhere near affordable for ordinary working people.

“Crucially, these rents and prices are way beyond the reach of those who are just above the income threshold to qualify for social housing.

“We do not accept the claim by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien and his Department that the Council plan would take five or six years and would be ‘back to the drawing board’.

“This claim is based on the system of obstacles to the development of public housing on public land deliberately put in place by successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil housing ministers.

“With political will these obstacles can be removed and we can proceed with the long, long overdue development of desperately needed housing on the Oscar Traynor Road site.

“This is what we in Sinn Féin will continue to demand until it is delivered.”