Taoiseach and Minister for Housing visit Fingal County Council construction sites
An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, TD, and Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Eoghan Murphy, TD, visited some of Fingal County Council’s social housing sites today
Director of Housing and Community, Margaret Geraghty, Fingal County Council Clerk of Works, Emmet Rafter, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, Minister for Housing Eoghan Murphy, Fingal County Councillor Eithne Loftus, Fingal County Architect Fionnuala May, Mayor of Fingal Cllr Mary McCamley and Fingal County Councillor Lorna Nolan at social housing development in Wellview, Mulhuddart.
The Taoiseach and Minister Murphy visited Hansfield Wood in Clonsilla where 47 newly constructed homes have been provided. They also visited the Council’s Rapid Build construction site at Wellview in Mulhuddart where 20 new homes are due to come on stream in the coming weeks.
During the visit, the Taoiseach and Minister met with the Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Mary McCamley, Fingal County Council Chief Executive Paul Reid, Director of Housing and Community Margaret Geraghty, County Architect Fionnuala May and the Director of Planning and Strategic Development, AnnMarie Farrelly.
Tackling the Housing Crisis: Visit by Taoiseach and Minister to construction sites (Part 1)
Of the 36 apartments in Hansfield Wood, eight ground floor units have been specially adapted for tenants with disabilities. There are also 11 three-bedroom houses on this site. Fingal County Council have appointed non-profit housing association Tuath to manage the facility. The Wellview site is one of three sites in Fingal County Council’s Rapid Build Construction Programme.
The Mayor of Fingal, Councillor Mary McCamley, said she was delighted to see some of Fingal County Council’s Social Housing construction schemes starting to come on stream. “It was fantastic to meet some of the new residents living in the completed houses as well as being able to witness the progress being made on the various construction sites. I look forward to seeing the complete delivery of these much needed homes which are part of Fingal County Council’s effort to address the housing crisis on a local level.”
The Chief Executive of Fingal County Council, Paul Reid, said: “Fingal County Council is widely recognised as being well ahead of our targets in the Rebuilding Ireland programmes. It is great for us today to welcome An Taoiseach and the Minister, Eoghan Murphy, and show them social housing homes that are coming on stream over the coming weeks in Fingal.”
Tackling the Housing Crisis: Visit by Taoiseach and Minister to construction sites (Part 2)
During the visit, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “I’m particularly impressed with those that are designed to allow access for people with disabilities which is really important and increasingly needed, particularly with an ageing population. I’m so pleased that Fingal is making so much progress in ensuring we have affordable housing for young people who want to buy their first home and families who want to upgrade but is also providing a lot of additional social housing around the county. I think if every Council was doing as much as Fingal, we’d be making a lot of progress nationally.”
Commenting on the progress made, Minister Murphy said: “The housing crisis is one of the most pressing challenges currently facing the state and, in responding to that challenge, it is encouraging to witness part of the significant investment programme being provided under Rebuilding Ireland come to fruition. If we are to fully realise the ambition of the Rebuilding Ireland programme, there needs to be a full suite of solutions, including traditional build as well as the use of rapid delivery housing such as the Wellview site, which was the first scheme in the country to be procured using the Framework Agreement established by the Office of Government Procurement, and we must continue to seek new and innovative ways of delivering social housing in order to deliver high quality houses and supported, sustainable homes for tenants.”
Fingal County Council was set a target of delivering 1,376 social units by the end of 2017 under the Rebuilding Ireland programme and is currently 25 per cent ahead of target having delivered 1,732 to end of September. A further 1,616 housing units will be provided through a variety of delivery mechanisms by the end of 2018 and this includes the construction of 212 homes in the 18 month period to December 31, 2018.