A chara, - I learnt with grave concern of the proposed 22-acre site development at the old gasometer in Dublin's docklands. Like everyone else in my community I welcome developments that are beneficial to us. But for any development to be successful the cornerstone ought to be the needs of the people and development of the community. This appears not to be the case with the gasometer site. In a city that is in the middle of a housing crisis I find it irrational that An Bord Gais, a semi-State body, has sold its State-owned land off for private development.
We are constantly being told there is no land left in the capital for local authority housing, yet here we had an opportunity to make a serious impact on the housing crisis. Instead more land was sold off for private gain.
Even if some of this redundant public land had been sold for private development a large proportion could still have been used for local authority housing, co-operative rental, and co-operative ownership housing. In this way the obligation to house people would not have to remain with Dublin Corporation but could be shared with other housing initiatives.
Dublin's docklands are littered with similar multi-million pound developments which have served only to alienate the local community and push the price of property further out of the reach of those who need it most. The 20-30 per cent of residential units that are to be earmarked for affordable accommodation is only a speculative figure. The real figure has yet to be actually agreed with private developers.
As a local resident and a community activist I urge the Government to avoid any further sale of redundant public land and to invest in housing initiatives that will help the current housing situation in Dublin. - Is mise,
Daithi Doolan, (Sinn Fein representative, South-east Inner City), Pearse House, Dublin 2.