Fine Gael’s Local Area Representative in Swords, Luke Corkery, has called on Fingal County Council to find a suitable site to build social and affordable homes in Swords, on a similar scale to the developments under construction in other towns across North County Dublin. Speaking following the announcement of 62 new social and affordable homes for Rush, Luke said: “The construction of this development in Rush is obviously really welcome given the urgent need for new homes – particularly social and affordable homes – in this region. However, there is no sign of anything like that in our county town of Swords; one of the fastest growing towns in Ireland. As a young person, living in the Dublin commuter belt, I am hugely conscious of the difficulty in finding affordable homes to rent or buy. The Council-led construction of purpose-built affordable housing would be a priority for me. House prices in the Lusk affordable housing development are expected to start at €166,000 for two-bed apartments, from €206,000 for three-bed duplexes, and from €258,000 for three-bed semi-detached homes. Fingal are now starting to build badly-needed social homes in Swords and that is very welcome; we need more social housing. But what if you want to buy a home in Swords at an affordable price? There is absolutely nothing at the moment, and at that, there have been no announcements of affordable housing developments either. There are a number of sites Fingal could use in Swords. Much of it is already Council-owned. For example, the Fingal County Council staff car park, facing onto the R132 at the end of Seatown Road, strikes me as a no-brainer. It is a large piece of land, which is already zoned. It’s in a central location, within walking distance of Main Street. It’s directly adjacent to the MetroLink route. The lack of affordable housing in Swords is dire. That’s why I’m calling on Fingal County Council to fill that gap in the Swords housing market and to prioritise the construction of affordable housing for our town”, Luke concluded.