Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Many speakers today stated that the market sets rent levels. The problem is that when there is insufficient housing stock, house prices continue to rise and so, too, does the cost of rent. We need to find a way to control the market. In other words, we must ensure rents are not increased by any more than the cost of inflation. We will be continually faced with crises in this area if that thinking is allowed to continue.

In regard to the construction of social housing schemes, the mindset that these must include social mix and so on is rubbish. I come from a working class estate. The problem with that estate and many other estates is the lack of facilities. There is nothing wrong with social housing estates; the problem is the lack of facilities, including creches, schools and so on. There are areas in respect of which social mix may work. There are plenty of greenfield sites available. Trying to squeeze housing estates into already populated areas is causing major problems with residents. An example in this regard is O'Devaney Gardens, some of the residents of which have been waiting ten years for homes and are still in situ. It is now proposed to invest €6 million in the redevelopment of particular blocks of flats in that complex and make them available to the homeless sector. The reality is that had sufficient houses been built, there would be more housing stock available for the homeless sector. There is great opposition to the proposed redevelopment of O'Devaney Gardens.

The local authorities currently do not have the money required to build social housing. There has been much talk from Government about the proposed €3.8 billion to be spent on social housing but none of this funding has yet been provided to the local authorities. Nothing is happening quick enough, be that rent controls or rent certainty. Despite all of the promises made over the past couple of years, nothing has yet happened. That is the problem.