Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I probably do not have time to ask all the questions I would like to ask of the Minister. They relate to his Department, the EU and capital spending on housing, vulture funds and real estate investment trusts, REITs, NAMA and relevant contracts tax, RCT, and the tax evasion going on in the building industry, which would fall under the Department of Finance as well.

I was a bit disappointed with the Minister's presentation. He began by saying that we need fresh thinking but in his opening comments, he never mentioned the words "housing crisis", certainly not "housing emergency". The furthest he went was "housing shortage". I did not hear anything today to suggest that he sees this as being the emergency that it is. However, there are certainly those of us who represent constituencies, Dublin West and many others, where this is the number one issue and where we have a homelessness and housing emergency. The Minister said, "Unless addressed, it could pose a serious threat to the competitiveness of the economy." That was his first point. It is a bit little crass to worry just about the competitiveness of the economy. It is the human cost that most of us are concerned about. However, he is right: the rocketing rents will drive people out of the country. They are doing so already.

Regarding capital spending and the EU fiscal rules, this committee was set up by the Dáil to come up with key solutions to the housing crisis. I was a bit bemused to see that the first point relating to the economy in the Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil deal arrived at two days ago is an agreement that they will "maintain [the] commitment to meeting in full the domestic and EU fiscal rules, as enshrined in law".

These rules are preventing governments from borrowing at the current rates of well under 1%, even for long-term capital investment in housing.

As other speakers have said, this has been a burning issue with regard to resolving the housing crisis. It seems that in their deal on the formation of a government, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are effectively promising to starve the country of funds which could be used for public investment. It is a slight document but this is stated. The document mentions that the delivery of social housing units would be significantly increased and expedited, barriers to private housing supply would be removed and an affordable housing scheme would be initiated. There is no mention of construction or building social housing anywhere in the document. Under the previous Government, delivery of social housing units came to mean the housing assistance payment, the rental allowance scheme and doing up voids but not building social housing. I am concerned the committee is being pre-empted by that document.