Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Chairman has covered a lot of the areas about which I am concerned. A culture change is needed in the Department. Having read through the information provided on PPPs and AHBs, it is quite clear that the Government is not encouraging direct building by the local authorities but is relying heavily on the HAP scheme to house those on local authority waiting lists. However, there are not enough houses to rent. I can categorically say that in my own area there is not enough housing. We do not have enough units. We are not building the right types of housing either. There are very few two-bedroom units being built or units designed for people with disabilities. Our criteria and outlook are all wrong.

I spoke to a woman recently about co-housing models in Denmark, involving communal housing for elderly people, younger people and so on. We are not looking at the bigger picture when it comes to housing. We are not delivering the right housing stock. Local authorities have moved away from the concept of direct build local authority housing. We built local authority houses 100 years ago and there was nothing wrong with them. Now the focus is on Part V developments, many of which are happening in my own area as well as PPPs and approved housing body houses. A culture change is happening whereby people will never be able to buy the house in which they are living. This is normal in many other European countries, whereby people do not buy their homes but enter into long leases, for 99 years and so on. Many of the new agencies involved in providing housing now do not give tenants the option to buy. That is very unfair on people who are working and who want the option to buy. The Government must encourage the local authorities to use their land banks to build public housing and to give people the option to buy.

We also need to reconsider the HAP scheme, given the amount of money that is being spent on private rental accommodation. The figures are extraordinary. The average cost of renting a house in Carlow is apparently €758 per month.

I wish it was €758.