Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, congratulate the Chairman on his election and ask him not to hold it against me that I did not vote for him.

Most of us would agree that matters will get worse before they get better, unless some immediate measures are taken to deal with the current homelessness and housing crisis. We can be certain that the situation will get worse in the short term unless radical measures are taken. People say that this committee should be non-political. I do not know whether that is possible but I hope it is. I do not know what potential this committee has as there are some serious stumbling blocks ahead of us.

Are we going to advocate direct construction of social housing by the State again through the local authorities or are we going to continue to rely on the private sector which has failed to deliver? There are huge challenges in terms of the supply of private housing in regard to how and what we build and addressing the massive problem of affordability. How are we to tie this in with creating an appetite for the private sector to build without feeding developers carrots that end up costing the public too much? If we have the wherewithal and the will to return to allowing the State provide housing through the local authorities, which I believe we should do, the big question arises as whether we can agree on how that will be funded. If that funding goes on the books, we will end up breaking the 3% rule, but if we go with PPPs, the cost will be too high. Funding provided by PPPs costs up to 15% whereas we can borrow money for less than 1%. Why should we pay 15 times the cost for the money needed to build the significant amount of social housing required? We are talking about a minimum of approximately €10 billion if we are serious about dealing with the issue.

I believe we need a break from the fiscal rules imposed by Europe. The French and Germans have broken the rules when they have felt the need and the British are now threatening to break the rules for investment in infrastructure. It is paramount that we are given a break by Europe and allowed to borrow money for less than 1% to provide a minimum of €10 billion for social housing to address the crisis over the next couple of years.