Adjournment Debate.

Company Closures.

Deputy Kieran O’Donnell

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this urgent matter on the adjournment debate. As we speak, 450 workers in Dell will lose their jobs today. It is a very sad for the workers and their families. A commitment was given by the Government that the European Global Adjustment Fund, some €500 million, would be accessed at European level. The application was to be made by Government. The funds would be used to provide retraining, counselling, to enable people to access alternative employment and to enable people to set up their own small business. To date, that has not happened.

I wish the 450 Dell workers concerned all the best. They are just the first group. In excess of 500 people will lose their jobs in Dell in July, in October another 500 will be lost and by next January another 400 will be lost, a total of 1,900 manufacturing jobs and 100 in the non-manufacturing area. That figure does not include people in Banta Global Turnkey, where 477 jobs will be lost and Flextronics, where almost 268 are being lost, all directly related to Dell.

Dell has been a great employer and provided a lot of down-stream jobs, but the contraction of its operations in Ireland has had a major exponential knock-on effect in Limerick and the wider community. We want to see Dell remain in Limerick, where 1,000 higher-end jobs are expected to be retained. It is extremely important not only to retain those jobs, but to build on them. I put forward a model in terms of what Apple did in Cork. The Government and agencies such as the IDA and other need to work with Dell to ensure we can build on the jobs. Perhaps some of those losing their jobs today can be retrained and access some of the new jobs.

In terms of the using European globalisation fund to help the workers concerned, which is the issue I want to raise today, I made direct contact with the EU Commission. On 1 May, the new rules on the fund will apply, whereby the EU will provide 65% of the funding and the State 35%. The current situation is 50% EU and 50% for the State. It will apply to cases of 500 redundancies or more, whereas currently it is 1,000 redundancies. It will apply for a two year period rather than the current one year period. Most importantly, it relates to an economic crisis rather than displacement of jobs outside the EU.

Dell in Limerick, and other companies such as Banta Global Turnkey and Flextronics, meet that requirement. I strongly urge the Government to make a submission immediately and make the case to the EU Commission. It can make the application prior to the full 1,900 or more redundancies taking place. There is a worry that the number of people redundant at the time one applies will determine the amount of funding received. A case can be made, in terms of Dell in Limerick and Banta Global Turnkey where, because we know the number of jobs which will be lost over the coming months, the fund should be drawn on straight away.

It is critical to retrain people and get them back into the workforce. I understand the new rules have been agreed at Commission level, at the employment committee stage in the European Parliament and at senior official level at the Council of Ministers. They will be passed by the European Parliament this coming Tuesday and will be dealt with by the Council of Ministers thereafter. They will come in to formal effect from July. However, they will be backdated to any application submitted from 1 May.

I see no reason the Government should not be ready tomorrow to make a submission to the European Commission regarding the European globalisation fund. If the Government is not ready to make such a submission, it is because it has dragged its feet and has not been doing the work. This is about accessing these funds. If one looks at other countries which have accessed this funding, they have obtained approval prior to the loss of the jobs. I want a commitment from the Minister of State that this application will be made tomorrow and the funding drawn down, and that the Government will start looking after the Dell employees and others. We now need a positive statement from the Government that it will make this application tomorrow and access some of this €500 million in funding.

Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Deputy Michael Finneran)

With all redundancies there is an acute human cost and my thoughts are with those workers being made redundant today at the Dell plant in Raheen, County Limerick.

The Deputy has inquired about when any co-financing support available under the European globalisation adjustment fund, EGF, will be available to these workers, the first group of whom are being let go today. In total, up to 2,000 workers are to be made redundant at Dell. A number of other companies that are directly linked to Dell in County Limerick have also notified the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment of related job losses.

Irrespective of the timing or eventual outcome of any application to be made for EU co-funding under the EGF, the Government has already begun to put in place relevant training and employment supports to assist those workers facing redundancy in Dell to retrain, to improve their skills or to pursue educational opportunities to assist in their eventual reintegration into the workforce. FÁS has put in place a special dedicated team to assist Dell workers in terms of individual skills assessment, occupational guidance and advice, job search assistance and the provision of training. To date, 480 workers have been invited to group briefing sessions and one-to-one guidance interviews. I understand some 345 workers attended the former session and 325 the latter. In addition, 60 workers participated in an ECDL computer training course arranged by FÁS.

A dedicated website, www.tusnua.ie, to assist redundant workers in assessing their options for alternative employment or further education in the mid-west region has also been put in place through a collaborative initiative between the University of Limerick, Limerick Institute of Technology, FÁS, the county and city enterprise boards, Enterprise Ireland and several other regionally located bodies. The majority of such supports are being provided from the State’s own resources in the interim. Any subsequent co-financing received under the EGF will therefore serve to defray some of the costs of supports already being provided or planned by the State and most likely will be received some time after these supports have been availed of by the redundant Dell workers.

The House will be aware that the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment has established the mid-west task force, chaired by Mr. Denis Brosnan, which is assessing the impact on the wider regional economy of the decision to close most of the Dell plant in Limerick and the associated job losses in other companies. It is also carrying out an analysis of the potential impact of the current economic downturn on the region.

The Department, in conjunction with the relevant State agencies, is currently preparing an EGF application in respect of Dell redundancies. All relevant eligibility criteria must be met to allow us to make a successful application. This is a complex and time-consuming technical process requiring the inclusion of considerable supporting data and involving not just the Department but a number of other State agencies and external bodies. Department officials have been also engaged in ongoing discussions with the European Commission regarding the application. Last December the European Commission proposed, as part of the European economic recovery plan, the revision of the current EGF regulation to make it more accessible, effective and responsive. The new application conditions will make the fund more accessible, particularly to smaller countries such as Ireland. These include halving the applicable redundancies threshold to 500; doubling the implementation period to 24 months; increasing EU co-financing from 50% to 65%; and broadening eligibility criteria for applications made between 1 May 2009 and 31 December 2011. However, while agreement was reached earlier this month between the European Council, Parliament and Commission, the revised regulation remains to be formally adopted by the European Parliament in its forthcoming plenary session as early as next week and subsequently by the European Council, probably in early June.

The proposed changes to the EGF regulation will apply retrospectively to all applications submitted by member states from 1 May 2009. Due to the increased accessibility of the fund, it is probable there will be a greater number of applications and the fund is likely to be deployed to greater effect than has been the case to date. In this context it continues, therefore, to be the intention of the Minister, as stated previously in the House, to make an EGF application to cover Dell redundancies without delay.

Deputy Kieran O’Donnell

When?

Deputy Michael Finneran

The proposed new revisions to the EGF regulation, when adopted, should further facilitate Ireland in this regard and should ensure, if the application is ultimately successful, the attraction of a higher level of co-financing than heretofore.

Hospital Services.

Deputy Dan Neville

I welcome the opportunity to raise the issue of the palliative care and hospice support unit at St. Ita's Hospital, Newcastlewest, County Limerick. I recognise the work of the Friends of St. Ita's in promoting this necessary service in west Limerick. This group has been fund-raising for the provision of a palliative care and hospice unit for west Limerick for six years, since May 2003. As a result of that fund-raising, the group has contributed €1.225 million towards the capital cost of building, furnishing and equipping the unit, which has been put at around €3 million. In addition, Friends of St. Ita's has agreed to contribute a further €120,000 towards the final cost, which will bring the overall voluntary contribution to €1.345 million, or 44% — almost half — the capital cost of the unit. This could not have been done without the overwhelming support and generosity of the entire community of west Limerick and beyond. We also recognise that included in that is generous funding of €0.75 million from the McManus Pro-Am, which enabled the unit to be upgraded from a four-bed to an eight-bed unit.

This was a very much a community project from the outset, as the facility was seen as being much needed for the region and was expected to augment the service already being provided by Milford Care Centre, which is up to a 50 miles distance from the homes of some people in the catchment area. This, together with the cause itself, were factors that motivated the community considerably in the drive to have the unit built.

As one might expect, with that enormous commitment, good will and generosity on the part of the community, and the effort put in by Friends of St. Ita's over time, came an understanding and expectation that the hospice unit would be opened once ready for use. The unit has been completed, as has the final stage of furnishing and fitting, and a temporary nurse manager has been appointed internally, while the permanent post, which had been sanctioned by the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, has not been filled, nor has it been advertised. The purpose of this appointment is to prepare policies and procedures for staffing and the running of the unit.

The purpose of my raising this is to impress on the Minister the requirement, because of the response of the community, that the unit be opened. There is great disappointment and annoyance that this has not been done. There is an unwillingness on the part of all concerned in this project to accept the delay in opening the unit beyond mid-2009. The contract for the unit went to tender in 2007, with a commitment that it would open in 2008. Now we are told it will not open in 2009.

As I said, Friends of St. Ita's has raised close to €2 million to date which, in addition to funding for the hospice unit, has also facilitated other projects in St. Ita's Hospital, including a day room and a patient minibus service. There has been wonderful generosity and support from all sections of the community. The least that community can expect is that its hard work and generosity will be reciprocated by the Health Service Executive. It must honour its commitment to staff and patients by opening the hospice unit, which is ready for use, without further delay.

Deputy Michael Finneran

I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney. I thank Deputy Dan Neville for raising it as it provides me with an opportunity to update the House and to outline the background to the current situation and the action taken by the Health Service Executive.

The executive has operational responsibility for the delivery of health and social services, including the new palliative care facility at St. Ita's Hospital. The hospital was built in 1841 and has seen significant development in recent times. In 1974, a new unit of 110 beds was built, which transformed the scale of services provided. A new assessment and rehabilitation unit was opened in 1989 and a day hospital came on stream in 1990. In 2004, the Friends of St. Ita's received lottery funding of €100,000 to provide support bed and day room facilities, and a further €80,000 was provided last year to develop a therapy garden.

The new palliative care unit was delivered under the Health Service Executive's capital plan for 2006-2010. It is an eight-place facility, comprising four beds and four day places, with ancillary living, dining, activity and day care facilities. The equipping phase has commenced and the building will be in use by the end of the year as the community palliative care staff and the recently appointed clinical nurse manager will operate from it. The total capital cost of the facility is some €2.3 million, with Friends of St. Ita’s contributing more than €1.2 million. The associated revenue costs are approximately €1.5 million. A new ambulant dementia unit is also scheduled to come on stream on the site. Representatives of Friends of St Ita’s met with the Minister for Heath and Children in early March to discuss a range of issues, including bringing the new facility on stream.

The overall spend on palliative care by the Health Service Executive in 2008 was in the region of €78 million. This included new funding of €3 million provided last year to undertake various service developments. The executive was asked to prioritise palliative care service developments in the context of a framework over the next five years. The resulting action plan document, Palliative Care Services: Five-Year Development Framework 2009-2013, was recently submitted to the Department of Health and Children and is currently under consideration. This document details the actions and initiatives necessary to address the gaps in palliative care service provision, against the recommendations set out in the national advisory committee on palliative care 2001. The Health Service Executive’s four administrative areas, with the full participation of voluntary and statutory palliative care providers, has developed a set of key priorities for addressing gaps in service provision in the next five years.

The Deputy will appreciate that all developments are now contingent on current economic and budgetary pressures. The Health Service Executive has been asked to undertake a rigorous examination of how existing funding might be reconfigured or reallocated to ensure maximum service provision is achieved. The Government is clearly committed to the development of comprehensive palliative care services. As I have outlined to the House, the Department of Health and Children will continue to work with the Health Service Executive and the voluntary sector to advance this objective.

Passport Applications.

Deputy Charles Flanagan

It is disturbing that the State, via the Department of Foreign Affairs, has facilitated a change of identity for a well-known drug trafficker. Who was involved in the cover-up in this case and how was it allowed to happen? I seek full and detailed particulars from the Passport Office and the Minister for Foreign Affairs as to the circumstances surrounding this issue.

I am reluctant to name persons outside the House but will do so in this case. Mr. Kieran Boylan has a string of convictions for drug trafficking and drug possession. Nevertheless, an international haulage licence was issued to him last September. Moreover, a passport has been issued to him in Irish by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Under the relevant legislation, there is a facility for the issuing of a passport in a name that is in a language other than the language in which it appears on the applicant's birth certificate. To my mind, however, the usage of Irish in this case has only one purpose — to avoid detection. After all, this is a wanted man, sought by Dutch police among others. Does he also happen to be a Gaelgóir of note? Is he an avid user of the Irish language or a native Irish speaker?

What checks were undertaken to affirm the love of the Irish language which inspired him to such a patriotic act? What references or recommendations were sought? Was the Garda or any appropriate person involved in the provision of information as to this man's proficiency in the Irish language? As I said, such changes are permitted under the Passports Act 2008, but evidence of use of name in Irish should have been sought. It is my understanding that a passport will issue in Irish only to those persons who can show they have been users of the language on a regular basis for a period of two years prior to their passport application.

Is it a regular occurrence that the Department of Foreign Affairs permits criminals to change their identity for the purposes of procuring documentation that would allow them to engage in international travel and perhaps international criminality? What checks were undertaken to ensure that this application was authentic? I understand the English version of the name can be maintained on the passport and, in this case, was entered as an observation. However, this was shown on a different page in the passport. If one flashes one's passport to a police officer, customs official or immigration official, there is nothing to show that one's name is also contained therein in English.

Did the Minister issue the passport under section 10(5) of the Passports Act 2008? Who processed the application and what is on file to show the appropriate checks took place? Did the passport officials know this man is a convicted criminal? What inquiries were made? If no inquiries were made, should they have been? Were any concerns raised by any party? What involvement had the Garda in this matter, whether local gardaí or otherwise? The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission is involved in an investigation of the individual in question. Will the Minister for Foreign Affairs hand over the passport file to the commission to facilitate this inquiry? This person has, under his Irish name, an international haulage licence, driving licence, insurance documentation and now a passport. He was never known for proficiency in the Irish language and there is no evidence that he was a lover of the language.

A genuine passport which passes all checks has been issued. However, it was issued by the State to facilitate a completely new identity. Jason Bourne, the fictional character of "The Bourne Supremacy" and "The Bourne Identity", would be proud of what the Department of Foreign Affairs has done in this case. It supplied this person with a completely new identity.

How can criminals be facilitated by the State in a change of name? I have questions for the Ministers for Transport and Justice, Equality and Law Reform. I ask that this man's driving licence be immediately revoked. However, I ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs to deal with the matter of the passport. The law needs to be reviewed if international criminals of Irish origin can be fitted out with completely new identities. In this case, the Department not only facilitated the fraud, but was instrumental in it. The law needs to be reviewed.

Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs (Deputy Dick Roche)

I am pleased Deputy Flanagan raised this issue. However, I am not very pleased at the manner in which he characterises Irish passports because it does damage to all of us.

The fact that he has raised the issue gives me the opportunity, on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Micheál Martin, to provide the House with a full briefing and to demonstrate that nothing untoward happened in this case and that the law of the land was observed.

The person in question applied for a passport in the Irish form of his name on 12 January 2009. He submitted his previous passport in the English form of his name along with the necessary application. The application was correctly completed and witnessed in a Garda station.

It has been established by the courts that a person has a constitutional right to travel from this country. Article 41.3 of the Constitution specifically infers that. A person, therefore, has the right to a passport. This is, of course, not an unfettered right and a passport can be refused in certain very limited circumstances.

Section 12(1)(d) of the Passports Act 2008 requires the Minister to refuse to issue a passport where he or she has been notified by the Courts Service that a person is subject to a bail order. However, there was no notification concerning a bail order in this case and no such order was applicable at the time of the 2009 application. The question of previous criminal convictions had arisen in respect of previous passport applications by the person in question and these issues were resolved at the time of those applications.

Accordingly, having verified the applicant's identity and citizenship, having established that the application was correctly completed and appropriately witnessed and having verified that there was no record of a bail order in respect of the person in question, the Passport Office established that the gentleman was entitled to be issued with a passport.

I would like now to turn to the issue of a person's request for a passport to be issued in the Irish language form of his name. Before dealing with the specific request, it might be helpful if I were to outline the legislative position in this regard. Incidentally, proficiency in the Irish language is not a requirement, a fact which I suggest Deputy Flanagan is fully aware of, having read the Act.

Deputy Charles Flanagan

Use, not proficiency.

Deputy Dick Roche

Section 10 of the Passports Act provides, inter alia, that a passport “shall be in the name of the applicant as it appears on his or her certificate of birth (whether in the English language or the Irish language)”. There are some exceptions to the general rule, as the Deputy has pointed out. Under section 10(2) a passport may be issued in a new name following a marriage. That did not arise in this case. Section 10(4) permits the issuing of a passport in a new name where an applicant provides satisfactory evidence of the use of the name over a period of at least two years prior to the application. Where satisfactory evidence is not provided, section 10(5) permits the Minister to issue a passport in the new name. However, in such cases, the name on the certificate of birth is entered as an observation on the passport and must remain there for at least two years.

Deputy Flanagan is quite right. The international form of passport, which is used in this and other countries, has an observation page, which is directly across from the passport entry. Deputy Flanagan knows this and he is demonstrating this by lifting a piece of paper and showing it to the House. That observation must remain on the passport for at least two years. Including an observation helps to avoid difficulties which may arise, for example, where a person is applying for visas or work permits abroad. Although inclusion is optional for applicants who provide the required two years evidence of usage, it is a requirement in the case of applicants where such evidence is not provided. That is why the observation was entered on this man's passport in the manner it was. This is in accordance with international passport arrangements throughout the European Union and in many other countries.

In this case, the applicant provided ten documents issued to him in the Irish form of his name as evidence of usage. He presented a driving licence which, as the Deputy has said, had been issued in December 2008.

Deputy Charles Flanagan

A month beforehand.

Deputy Dick Roche

That is quite correct. There is nothing wrong with Deputy Flanagan's mathematics. Second, he presented six receipts for dental surgery, two of which dated from as far back as 2005. Third, he presented a letter dated 2009 from a firm of accountants and tax consultants which said he was known to them and that they had handled his business for the previous five years. He submitted a certificate of registration of business name dated from October 2008 and a bank statement dated January 2007.

Notwithstanding this, the Passport Office took the view that because much of the evidence of usage was of recent origin, in accordance with section 10(5), an observation would be entered on the passport. A member of staff spoke to the applicant and advised him of this. The passport was issued in the Irish form of his name but the observation showing his name at birth was entered on the page facing the data page of the passport. This entry would be clearly visible to any person inspecting the details of the new passport. In fact, it is regarded as a disadvantage to have such an observation on a passport because it raises questions about the passport holder.

Every passport applicant has a unique holder number on the Passport Office database. This enables the Passport Office, in examining passport applications, to track applicants' previous history. In line with standard procedures, both Irish and English forms of this applicant's name are entered on the database under his unique holder number.

I am, therefore, satisfied that the processing of this passport application complied fully with the requirements of the Passports Act 2008.

Urban Regeneration.

Deputy Thomas P. Broughan

In the constituency I represent, Dublin North East, recent cutbacks announced by Dublin City Manager, Mr. John Tierney, to the affordable housing and regeneration programmes will impact very seriously on people in the parishes of Darndale, Belcamp and Priorswood in Dublin 17.

For over 20 years, community leaders in both areas have campaigned for the regeneration and improved re-development of their estates. Bodies such as the Belcamp Estate Steering Committee, Moatview Fairfield Development Association, Darndale Tenants and Residents Association, Darndale Belcamp Village Centre and Northside Partnership have campaigned for the completion of the Darndale estate regeneration and for the elimination of troublesome open spaces in Belcamp and Moatview estates by the construction of affordable and senior citizen housing at those locations.

The regeneration of Darndale estate, which began in the late 1980s, has greatly improved the layout and housing quality of this attractive Northside parish. The Darndale Community Development Association themselves identified the EU URBAN programme and I was delighted to strongly represent them at Dublin City Council and in Dáil Éireann to secure the funding to build the Darndale Village Centre of which we are all very proud. The original old shops site in the centre of the estate and a small portion of the north east of Buttercup estate were promised further regeneration and development. Following many local consultations in Darndale and discussions with Dublin City Council and with the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Finneran, this final phase of Darndale's regeneration was to include new affordable housing on the old shops site and a complete redesign of the north east corner of Buttercup estate.

My constituents have asked me repeatedly for the start-up date for these projects. Recently, I was informed that these two projects will probably not proceed in 2009 and may not even start in 2010. Darndale housing manager, Mr. John Egan, informed me recently that "there is no sign of this progressing soon. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has requested a full re-appraisal and cost plan of the proposal in view of the new economic climate." He went on to state that even if a positive decision were made by the Minister, Deputy John Gormley, and the Minister of State, work would not commence this year. This is appalling news for the people of Darndale and Belcamp and I am asking the Minister of State this evening to state that he is fully committed to this regeneration and that it will start in 2009.

In Moatview and Belcamp estates and Priorswood parish, lengthy consultation, planning and other preparations have been made for infill affordable and senior citizen housing at a number of large urban open spaces. This programme began around the turn of the century with the construction of about 30 new homes at a large and previously difficult open site between Moatview Drive, Moatview Avenue and Moatview Gardens. Major preparatory works were carried out over the past three years at further large sites, including those between Moatview Close, Moatview Gardens and Belcamp Avenue and at a very difficult site between Moatview Drive, Belcamp Crescent and Belcamp Green. The major preparatory engineering works at the two sites involved massive excavations and the moving of drainage pipes and large drainage channels. This involved great disruption at the two sites and for householders in the surrounding streets. For the past year or more, the sites have been left almost derelict and Dublin City Council has totally failed to restore them and protect adjoining householders.

It was thus very upsetting for Moatview and Belcamp residents to receive the following report about a month ago from area manager, Ms Celine Reilly. Ms Reilly stated that "the tenders received from the Belcamp Moatview development are currently being evaluated by the City Council and when completed, the scheme will be evaluated and a decision made to either commence or postpone the development". I was recently informed that the Moatview and Belcamp redevelopments definitely will not proceed in 2009. This appalling news is a grave setback to Moatview and Belcamp and to the long and valiant campaign of wonderful community organisers such as the Belcamp steering committee.

I call this evening for the Minister to release urgently any necessary funding to Dublin City manager, Mr. John Tierney, and for the long needed regeneration works in Darndale, Belcamp and Priorswood parishes in Dublin 17 to go ahead immediately. Over 25 years, these valiant communities have worked hard to redesign and to improve their estates following profound planning and design failures by Dublin City Council and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. It is intolerable that the completion of this long and arduous campaign should be postponed to 2010 or even later. I call on the Minister of State this evening to take urgent action on both these projects.

Deputy Michael Finneran

I thank the Deputy for raising this important housing issue.

The Government's commitment to social housing takes a broad approach to supporting the development of sustainable communities. A crucial element of this approach is our commitment to supporting the development of sustainable communities in existing local authority estates through various improvement and regeneration initiatives. In particular, regeneration is focused on addressing the issues of social, educational and economic disadvantage experienced in some of the most challenging areas of the country.

This holistic approach looks beyond the physical infrastructure and considers all aspects of life in the areas concerned. In addition to improving the fabric of estates, each regeneration project should take a strategic approach to addressing the underlying causes of deprivation in the area, be they a lack of educational supports, or community facilities, or issues of anti-social behaviour, and where necessary they may involve a broad range of local and national statutory agencies, as well as community and business interests.

My Department supports an ambitious regeneration programme with projects ongoing in most of our cities and across a number of regional towns. The scope of the projects involved varies significantly, depending on the size of the estates involved and the particular challenges of the areas concerned. Regardless of scale, each project should address not just the physical improvements to the estate, but should also social inclusion. It is a matter for the housing authority concerned to decide on the type of regeneration proposal that is most appropriate for an area and to decide on the means by which the project should be delivered. It also falls to each individual housing authority to prioritise projects within its social housing investment programme and submit proposals in the usual way to my Department.

With regard to the issue of a regeneration programme for the Belcamp and Moatview area of Dublin, my Department has not yet received a proposal on this from Dublin City Council. From inquiries made to the council, I understand that work had been under way to develop a proposal, including the construction of affordable housing for a number of sites in this area. However, having regard to the current economic and budgetary climate, changes in the housing market and particularly the current availability of a large number of affordable units in the general area, the council has reviewed the proposal and now considers that the provision of additional affordable units would not be feasible at this time.

In so far as the regeneration of Buttercup Park in Darndale is concerned, Dublin City Council had submitted a proposal to my Department that included the construction of social housing, affordable homes and senior citizens' units. Officials from my Department wrote to the council last January about the proposed project, particularly about the need for affordable housing in the area. While a formal response is still awaited, I understand that the council will be submitting a revised proposal to my Department shortly.

As with all social housing investment programme projects, it will be a matter for the local authority to progress this proposal in accordance with the usual conditions and, subject to approval by my Department, to manage its delivery in the context of its overall social housing investment programme and in accordance with available allocations.

Finally, I would like to emphasise that my Department continues to work actively with Dublin City Council in connection with its broad range of housing programmes. In that context, I look forward to continued engagement with the council as it develops and implements its ambitious programme of regeneration.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.25 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 6 May 2009.

Dáil Éireann debate - Thursday, 30 Apr 2009