Sinn Féin Clondalkin Councillor William Carey has accused the majority group on South Dublin County Council of ‘ignoring community concerns’ and ‘rejecting an improved social housing proposal from Sinn Féin for purely political reasons.’
Cllr Carey said: ‘Last night South Dublin County Council approved the Managers proposal for 19 social housing units on the green between Lindisfarne and Melrose. The proposal was a reduction from the original proposal for 29 homes. ‘Sinn Féin conducted an extensive door to door consultation with the local community and tabled an alternative proposal which would have seen an increase in the number of new social homes in the Bawnogue area while preserving an important green space for residents in Lindisfarne and Melrose. ‘The Sinn Féin alternative was tabled by way of amendment at last night’s Council meeting. It involved reducing the number of homes on the Lindisfarne green to 16 while increasing the number of social homes on a second social housing scheme across from Lindisfarne by up to 29 units.
‘Our proposal also sought to use some of the units on the Lindisfarne green site to allow local pensioners downsize, freeing up a number of larger family homes within the Bawnogue area for families on the waiting list. ‘The net result of Sinn Féin’s alternative would have been up to 44 new social homes on two sites developed in a way that would have had greater community support and a lower loss of amenity. ‘Unfortunately Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Labour voted down the Sinn Féin proposal. The Sinn Féin amendment tabled by myself and Cllr Derren Ó Bradaigh was defeated 25 to 14 with the Green Party, People Before Profit, Socialist Party and one independent supporting our proposal. The Managers proposal for 19 homes on the site then passed without opposition.‘It is hard to understand why Councillors would have ignored the concerns of the local community. It is even harder to fathom why they would have voted down an alternative proposal that would have addressed those concerns while actually increasing the total number of new social homes in Bawnogue. I can only conclude that they did this for purely political reasons. ‘Sinn Féin will continue to work with the local community to ensure that future developments meet the needs of both the existing and future residents of Bawnogue.’
