I also support this amendment. It is important because we need to determine the exact implications of this piece of legislation, which is being rushed through the Houses. When the debate on Second Stage took place last week, the deadline for the submission of amendments preceded that debate. This is a recurring theme with the Government across multiple Departments. It is concerning because we should be able to tease out the substantive issues relating to Bills. I laid out my concerns on Second Stage. I am not going to go into them again, other than to say that I hope the Minister of State engages sincerely in respect of this amendment and the intention behind it.
Sentiment score: 0.17
Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. You are definitely too young, as am I.
Sentiment score: 0.20
There was a couple of things I wanted to say on this. I, too, am opposed to sections 61 and 62, for many of the reasons that were outlined by my colleague. When I think about stimulating supply, the type of supply that these new apartment guidelines will stimulate, if any, will be expensive, high-yield, build-to-rent apartments in Dublin and only very specific parts of Cork. It certainly will not build anything in Limerick, the city I represent. We saw last year the debacle when the Minister, Deputy James Browne, tried to use section 28 and the Government failed to undertake an environmental impact assessment, and then had to basically pull the guidelines. It is now coming back with this national planning statement on the revised apartment guidelines, which will result in smaller, darker apartments without dual aspect, studio apartments that are just 32 sq. m. Einstein's definition of madness is doing the same thing and expecting different results. We have a method that has been tried and tested and has failed. We know that, with soaring construction inflation, the mooted cost savings the Minister gave at the time have been all but wiped out in the last year. By going down this road, the Minister of State is creating a system of making apartment living unviable for people as a permanent living solution, as someplace where they can build a home. We will end up with very small, dark, expensive apartments that will be very hot in the summer. That is a point that is not often made. These apartments will mainly be occupied either more permanently by people who are social housing tenants or, if they are occupied by renters, those renters will not be protected by any sort of meaningful protection in respect of the cost of their rent. They will be paying upwards of €3,000 in cities like Dublin. They will barely be able to afford it, or they are not going to want to live there long term. It is going to contribute further towards hollowing out the urban core of places like Dublin, driving people out of inner city communities. Many previous Ministers have gone down this road, including, truth be told, one of my own party colleagues, going back as far as 2015. It has not worked. Every time we have reduced apartment standards, we have had the same heavy, developer-led lobby coming along every two or three years and claiming the viability measures introduced around design guidelines or size do not work and that we need to go smaller and cheaper. The entire model we are using is not working. The State is in many cases paying way over the top for apartments. With these revised guidelines, we are not going to get the high-quality, decent, permanent, sustainable homes that people actually want to live in. I think that gets completely lost in this discussion. We will go and do this, and that will be fine, and it may stimulate some expensive build-to-rent residential development, but unless there is a fundamental change in approach, either the Minister of State or somebody else will be back here in two to three years' time looking to go further and smaller again.
Sentiment score: 0.08
They are not €3,000.
Sentiment score: 0.00
They are not €3,000 a month.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Minister of State referenced the size of a studio apartment in Vienna. The average rent of a studio apartment in Vienna is about €600.
Sentiment score: 0.00
If the Minister of State will allow me to make my point, the average rent of a studio apartment in Dublin is €1,850. With these revised apartment guidelines, the Minister of State has allowed developers to build entire developments of tiny studio or one-bedroom apartments. When you go to someplace like Vienna, there is an appropriate mix of one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments. In addition, there are community facilities and amenities, which the Minister of State has also removed during the past year. He has removed them from the LDA. There was a big row with Dublin City Council about removing community space from apartment developments. When you leave your apartment in Vienna, you can board a world-class public transport system. We have a situation in this country where we have so-called transport-orientated development with no bloody public transport. People are going at it hammer and tongs over car spaces in suburban parts of Dublin because they never got their train or DART services. They have been delayed and delayed again. The Minister of State cannot compare the two. Even the LDA, which comes under the auspices of the Minister of State's Department by extension, said the savings would be marginal in most units - it said they would be nowhere near what the Minister trumpeted them to be last year - and that is what they turned out subsequently to be. This is the core point. We are essentially paying way over the top. In many cases, the taxpayer and the approved housing bodies are paying out an absolute fortune for tiny shoebox apartments. The entire model is fundamentally broken.
Sentiment score: -0.02