Fianna Fáil is calling for an urgent meeting of the Council's Housing Committee to deal with a report which could see 1,500 homes built on council-owned lands.

The report, presented to Councillors in July, seeks "expressions of interest from partners to work collaboratively to design, build, finance housing, and to provide management solutions for a mix of housing types and tenures".

The proposal put forward by two of the Council's top officials, Dick Brady and Philip Maguire, states they are "confident that there are innovative solutions that can be made to work to help reduce the housing shortages facing the city".

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Nearly 30 hectares of land at Malahide Road, Bunratty Road, Cherry Orchard, Oscar Traynor Road and in Ballyfermot is estimated to provide 50 units per hectare, but without Council approval cannot be properly utilised.

Fianna Fáil Group Leader on Dublin City Council, Councillor Paul McAuliffe, commented: "I had hoped the new membership of the committee could be approved at the Special Council meeting on the 22nd of September and that an urgent meeting of the Housing Committee could be held before the next City Council meeting on the 6th of October.

"Failure to follow this timeline could see the issue delayed until the November or December Council meeting, we just simply can't wait that long. With 156 families including 341 children, living in Dublin hotels and talk of prefab accommodation there is a desperate need for social housing and reasonably priced private rented accommodation. We have an obligation to act quickly on this issue."

(CD/JP)