Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I want to make observations rather than ask questions. I thank the witnesses for the presentation this morning. We are all here to put some kind of formula together so that people can have a home, whether social or private housing. Eugene Cummins of Roscommon County Council and Dick Brady of Dublin City Council were here last week. Mr. Brady said there are more than 22,000 sites available for local authority housing across the city. Do the witnesses have any idea what kind of sites they are and what size housing estates can be built on them? Some I imagine are very small.

There are small sites across the city which lay there all through the boom and still have nothing on them. Mr. Parlon said reviewing the sites would be very important for the construction industry. I agree but is it not true that many larger construction companies do not want to build any kind of housing because it is not profitable enough and the builders who were building small banks of houses unfortunately do not have the money any more? Mr. Parlon made that quite clear. Have there been any formal talks with the councils about the sites they have?

Have the witnesses any idea of the number of sites there are and the capacity of housing they would hold?

Something which jumped off the page at me around social housing was that a tenant should not be allowed have a sale of a house if it is below the replacement cost. Like my colleagues, I have dealt with people who have lived in social housing all their lives. Many of them have lived in those houses for 40 and 50 years. It is disappointing that anybody would want to prevent them from buying their houses, on which they have probably already paid half a mortgage or a full mortgage. People living in social housing should have the right to buy if they have lived in a house for more than a certain amount of time. Dublin City Council conducts a very fair process to allow its tenants to buy. I am only familiar with it and South Dublin County Council.

I agree with the witnesses about living over shops. Although it is very important, in many country areas and small urban towns, there is just not the population, unfortunately. Many young people have left and have come to the cities because that is where the work is. There are a number of reasons people do not live in the countryside and we will not go into them.

On first-time buyers, many young people were caught up in the property boom and bought houses at extortionate prices. They now find themselves not living in those houses and having to rent them out. Some are having to move back home with their parents because of the mortgage and so on. Have the witnesses any suggestions about people who are in negative equity and what can be done to help them? As Mr. Fitzpatrick said, many of these young people are falling back into social housing. Many have had to give back their keys reluctantly while some wanted to give them back because they just could not live.