The interview commences after 1 hour & 8 minutes.
Mary is determined that Dublin City Council will deliver social and affordable housing and introduce the Vienna style housing model of affordable rental in Dublin City.
In October, Mary and her colleagues rejected a bad Fine Gael / Sinn Fein proposal for O’Devaney Gardens: only 30% social housing, un-affordable housing for average earners and no guaranteed community facility funding.
Instead Mary worked with City Councilors from Fianna Fáil, the Green Party, the Labour party and Social Democrats (the Dublin Agreement Group) to achieve a better deal for O’Devaney.
During these discussions, Mary proposed a 100% state funded model which would deliver an equal mix of social, affordable purchase, affordable rental and private homes as well as dedicated community facilities. Click HERE to read more about this alternative proposal.
Unfortunately, the Minister for Housing refuses to fully fund his own governments “flagship housing development” on O’Devaney.
Mary continued to work with Dublin City Management and other Dublin City Councillors to salvage the situation. Ultimately the Dublin Agreement Group secured a significant affordable housing deal on the O’Devaney Gardens site.
Under the terms of the revised deal the Group secured a commitment that 30% of the total units will be affordable rental, 30% social housing and 20% affordable purchase. This is a major enhancement on the original proposal and will support those families and individuals struggling with un-affordable rents.
In summary the new deal will deliver:
- 824 new homes
- 80% of all residential units will be social and affordable
- 30% social, 30% affordable rental, 20% affordable purchase and 20% private purchase.
- All units will be built to the same high standard and differing tenures will be pepper-potted
- The maximum affordable purchase price will be €310,000
- Senior citizens will be accommodated via the financial contribution scheme
- €3.5m from the developer contribution will be ring-fenced for community facility
- The development will include some retail, a community crèche and a community hub
- A local Social Employment Clause and Apprenticeship Scheme
- No student, co-living or hotel accommodation will be included on the site
In negotiating this revised proposal, Mary and the Dublin Agreement Group put the citizens of Dublin first before politics.
It is not a perfect deal, but with a Minister and Government who refuse to fund a sustainable, affordable and deliverable housing model, it is a significant achievement.
Mary remains determined to deliver high quality, affordable, mixed tenure public housing on O’Devaney and is not prepared to allow another decade of dereliction dominate O’Devaney.
Mary calls on the Minister to urgently publish an affordable rental scheme and to provide the funding for an Approved Housing Body to purchase the units.
