Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not want to delay the meeting but this is a very important debate. It affects everybody in every part of the country. It is something we deal with on a daily basis. However, there are some chinks of light appearing. When landlords are exiting the market, who is buying those houses? Are they being bought by funds or by private individuals? If the latter are the beneficiaries, the demand in the housing market is being met in that way. Are they going somewhere else? It is possible that house prices are reaching their zenith and that they will go down from here. Those are the indications in the marketplace. I am not so certain what will happen. Incidentally, I remember the debate that took place in this House over many years as to whether rental or purchase was the better option. I was never an aficionado of rental because it places the tenant at somebody else's whim. The security is gone. The pressure is on the tenants all of the time and they have to worry about it. I agree that some other countries use the rental system to a much greater extent but I still do not agree with it. The system we had when we had sufficient houses to meet the demand was better. People were seriously trying to get the security that went along with owning their own house. They may not have for the first 20 years or so but eventually they owned it. Nobody could tell them that they were being moved out because they or their mother-in-law was moving in. All of these things are affecting the marketplace. Could we find out who is buying up the houses that landlords are selling off? That is important.

Houses are becoming available. A lot of building work is taking place at present. Under Part V, Part VIII and whatever else, we are scheduled to get a number of houses. It will not be enough but it is certainly a start. It is not true to say that this thing is getting worse. It is because the demand is greater. There is no doubt about it. We had Covid lockdowns and all that went with them and we had the financial crash before that. We were therefore not in a position to do the things we wanted and were entitled to do. However, a decision was taken many years ago that the approved housing bodies were going to take up the role previously held by the local authorities. I was not an aficionado of that either and I was right because it could not be done. What was happening previously was that the local authorities were meeting a certain part of the market demand without affecting anybody else. They could target that area.

Deputy Boyd Barrett made reference to the low income threshold. There are many people now in the housing market who cannot qualify for anything because the income threshold sweeps them off the deck. The housing need is met insofar as the numbers are concerned. We all deal with cases every day in which applicants' income, when the question is pursued, turns out to be €45,000 or €50,000. They do not qualify. They are out of the marketplace. It is wrong to say that a couple who earns €50,000 or €60,000 should be able to buy a house. It does not happen that way. They cannot for the simple reason that you will not get a house for three times €50,000. It is a long time since you could do that in this country. We need to look at that in a way that gives hope to those people who remain in the market and those who remain on the housing lists. They are being assailed from two sides. They require that little morsel of hope and it is time to give it to them by whatever means we can.