Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, wish the Minister and his team well. It is important that he listens and engages. I know began to do so when the negotiations on the programme for Government commenced. This is a huge issue and we will be judged on our success or failure in grappling with it.

We have failed spectacularly, as a country, to deal with homelessness.

There are a number of blockages, one of which seems to be inertia at local authority level, whether it is through a lack of staff or a lack of other resources. There are too many stages to go through in the schemes that are on offer and I cannot understand why there cannot be a central design for each local authority, adapted to each site. There could be a standard design for a number of four-beds, three-beds, two-beds and one-beds, and there would be is no need for architects to design different schemes for different areas every time a contract goes out to tender. Other than the elevation of sites, the standards should be the same for each house. At the moment there are delays as we deal with architects. Architects have told me that when they make submissions to the Department they wait forever for an answer, causing delays of two, three or four years.

As Senator Murnane O'Connor said, the revenue limits are too low for people in employment or on low incomes. If they are slightly over the limit they cannot get it. The voluntary sector, in which I am involved, has a huge role to play. Around 2006, there was a section in the Department dealing directly with voluntary groups who wanted to build houses. These groups have a proven track record and they could deliver houses within a reasonable period, say 12 to 18 months from the time of acquiring a site. That section, however, was abolished. I do not know if that came from someone in the Department wanting to take back control, but such groups now have to go to five or six different venues around the country to visit different sections of the Department to get their approvals over the line. That is wrong.

I echo what Deputy O'Dowd said. Local authorities have lost a lot of staff as a result of cuts. They need adequate trained staff. People deserve dignity when they are standing in council offices and should not have to stand in a queue and take a ticket as if they were taxing their car. It is a very personal matter and there should be more space so that they can be listened to. In my own town, the closure of the borough council has put huge pressure on the front desk of the county council and there is not adequate space, resources or time for people. It is difficult for staff and there needs to be more sensitivity in this area.

I am committed to working with and supporting the Minister as best I can to cut out red tape. He has some responsibility for planning and there are some issues in my county in that regard. At least half a dozen young couples, with jobs and the wherewithal to build, have sites on family plots but they cannot get planning permission. Councils cannot house people, yet they are making it ridiculously difficult for people to build houses in rural Ireland. They can and are willing to house themselves. It would also kick-start the economy, especially in rural areas and small towns with small builders. We will never get started with all the draconian planning laws we have. We need good planning but there are now too many issues for people who want to build. Provided they follow guidelines, they should be allowed to do so, but it takes forever to get a pre-planning meeting and to get feedback if there are difficulties. The role of the local representative has also been cut. He or she used to be able to mediate with neighbours on different issues related to sites, but it is now more difficult. It is not that people wanted to bend laws - they just wanted to get planning permission for appropriate sites and on-site pre-planning meetings were very important for this. A lot of time was saved by finding out at the pre-planning stage that a site was not suitable. I know the Minister is to visit the councils, and he would be welcome to come to Tipperary to meet officials. The county managers' association should be required to say why they could build thousands of houses in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s but nowadays they are delivering zilch.

The mortgage-to-rent scheme has been an abject failure and the figures are dismal. Whether there is not a willingness to work with it or the guidelines are too strict, it is just not functioning. It needs to be dealt with because there are many instances in which people could be kept in their houses. Another issue is the purchase of houses by vulture funds, which is a total nonsense. I will not even get started on NAMA because it will be dealt with elsewhere, but that agency has a lot of questions to answer.