Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2024-02-22
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. She raised it very fairly. I accept the principles she has articulated. There should be no physical segregation. The Deputy might explain why councils have said it would be more costly to segregate tenants. I do not understand why it would be more costly in terms of the construction of a development of 30, 50 or 100 apartments. The apartments will still have to be constructed. It is particularly wrong that Part V social housing tenants would be denied access to amenities or general facilities. That is wrong and is not what Part V is about. It is about a proper balance and mix. I will speak to the Minister.
Local authorities can, within their planning conditions, enforce non-physical segregation. In other words, they can force or facilitate integration via a planning condition. Planning permission can be dependent on an integrated approach to the integration of social housing tenants in the overall complex. The whole idea of Part V was to create integration and avoid what people sensed in the past was, to use a phrase I do not like, overconcentration, ghettoisation or whatever other phrase was used. That seems to me to go against the spirit of Part V as originally conceived.
I will undertake to speak to the Minister. Local authorities have responsibilities in terms of the planning permissions that are granted in respect of Part V tenancies. I do not understand why it is too costly, in terms of the actual physical cost of the construction of a set of apartments, a housing estate or whatever, in particular in an apartment setting.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2024-02-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:52:42+00:00
Sitting date: 2024-02-22