The average time spent on South Dublin County Council’s housing waiting list is “disgracefully long,” according to David Gardiner, Workers’ Party representative for Palmerstown-Fonthill.

For a 4-bedroom house, the average wait is 13 years, while people looking for a 3-bedroom house are left waiting 9.59 years on average. Those wanting a 2-bedroom house can expect to wait up to 9.87 years.

“The council needs to be building accessible and genuinely affordable public housing. The only housing you see being built en masse these days is being built by private developers who couldn’t care less about working people or our communities.”

“There are 18 vacant sites on the council’s Vacant Site Register, two of which are owned by the council themselves. There is no good reason that public housing shouldn’t be built on at least some of the sites that are zoned for residential use.”

“People need an alternative to the madness of the private market, and our government, both national and local, are failing to provide that. Public housing is the solution.”

“Universally-accessible public housing, as supported by the Workers’ Party, would see publicly-owned housing made available to anyone who wants it, with the cost of rent based on their income.”
“More information on our housing policy can be found online at workersparty.ie/housing.”