89 affordable homes to be built under new land swap deal

The Government has agreed a deal with developers that will see 89 new affordable homes constructed at Ongar village in the Clonsilla area of west Dublin.

The deal is the second to be agreed under a scheme launched last year to exchange prime development sites in Dublin city for affordable houses and apartments in the suburbs.

As part of the Ongar agreement, the developer, Alanis Ltd, will receive a prime OPW site at Nutley Lane in Dublin 4 in exchange for the new houses.

Environment Minister Dick Roche has insisted that the move represents "tremendous" value for money as the Ongar site will have four times as many houses as the Nutley Lane site could have accommodated.

He also said the new houses would come on line in a shorter timeframe than if the Nutley Lane site had been developed.

The first of the homes is due to go on sale next Spring, with the remainder following before the end of 2007.

Mr Roche said he expected to make another announcement shortly in relation to a further land swap at Harcourt Terrace, while the Affordable Homes Partnership set up to oversee the scheme was currently considering the suitability of more sites for inclusion in the initiative.

Reports this morning said the body was holding discussions about a range of sites that could see up to 3,000 affordable homes being constructed in the coming years.