‘It’s like a circus’ – inside the chaotic six-hour council meeting to find more land for new homes
Local authorities are rushing to rezone land for building homes in response to a call from the Department of Housing to meet targets.
Councils are holding special meetings to identify institutional and agricultural land and other green belt sites that could be used for residential purposes to help meet the national target of over 50,000 new homes a year.
One such meeting held by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council (DLRCC) this week ran over six hours and has been extended to two consecutive nights.
Standing orders or protocols normally followed are suspended during a special meeting so speakers do not need to adhere to the same time restrictions.
A meeting that began at 4pm was suspended for a break in the first 10 minutes for management to address a number of new motions introduced by the councillors.
Close to the end of the evening, only seven out of a total of 64 motions had been discussed.
Independent councillor Kevin Daly was among those who called for the meeting to be halted.
“We’re all over the place here – this meeting should be suspended,” he said. “We should get our ducks in a row and come back here and do this properly. It’s like a circus – you’re saying one thing, and then you’re going back. You’re kind of changing your answers.”
As the meeting progressed, more breaks were called while councillors questioned why some motions were dismissed “without reason”.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors were at odds with opposition politicians over the need to rezone land in the first place.
I’ll be blunt – some councillors hadn’t done their homework, they didn’t understand the procedures
“Rezoning private land does not guarantee a single home will be built – what it does guarantee is a massive windfall for landowners and speculators whose land jumps in value overnight at the stroke of a pen,” said People Before Profit (PBP) councillor Dave O’Keeffe.
“We already have enough zoned land for 27,525 homes – more than we need – and it’s not being built on.
“Rezoning more private land is just repeating the same failed approach and expecting a different result.”
Fine Gael councillor Jim O’Leary said there was an “ideological split” at the meeting.
“I’ll be blunt – some councillors hadn’t done their homework, they didn’t understand the procedures,” he said.
“There was also an ideological split – Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were more in favour of rezonings while Labour and PBP had taken a view that they are not needed.
“They think that rezonings are to make developers wealthier. They’re quite right – it doesn’t guarantee more houses will be built, but it definitely removes the impediment.”
Similar “variation” meetings to make changes to development plans and rezone land were held by Cork City Council, Dublin City Council, Fingal County Council and South Dublin County Council this year.
In Fingal, the approval of 5,000 new homes led to fears from some councillors that it would eat into green belt areas.
I cannot abide by this. It’s unfortunately populist politics in the name of a green belt or to build a skate park
At the DLRCC meeting, Mr O’Keeffe called the process “undemocratic” after five motions from PBP were dismissed.
“Varying a development plan is a reserved function. It belongs to the elected members, not to the executive and not to the chair,” he said.
“When opposition motions are consistently struck down before they can even be discussed, our community is being denied the representation they voted for.
“We are seeing a pattern. Motions that challenge the government line are ruled out. Motions that go along with it are heard. That is not how a democratic chamber is supposed to work.”
Fine Gael councillor Pierce Dargan said motions were ruled out across party lines, adding: “There were inconsistencies – we were upset cross-party. I had motions ruled out of order myself.”
“I’ll be honest – I find it quite interesting how decisions were being made. Even our group leader was talking about suspending the meeting because motions were being ruled out of order.
“We have motions in from some opposition parties where they want to take out land – if they are taken out, it can lead to over 1,000 homes not being delivered.
“I cannot abide by this. It’s unfortunately populist politics in the name of a green belt or to build a skate park.”
Some councillors argued that the process was an important function of local government.
“To get to 50,000 units a year and meet the national target, we need more action, and some challenges are inevitable,” Fianna Fáil councillor Justin Moylan said.
“We’re looking at housing in the short er term and some of these decisions might be unpalatable – we need to make decisions that are tough, that’s politics.”