Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister and the Ministers of State Deputies Noonan and O'Donnell. It is great to see them here. I commend them because we have seen an unprecedented suite of measures during the lifetime of the Government to tackle the housing crisis. It is probably fair to say that no other country in the world has dealt with it in such a hands-on manner and has been willing to make as many interventions as we have in the housing market. I can give a very parochial view of how it is working. Longford County Council has just published its expression of interest for its first affordable housing scheme. It was a bee in my bonnet in the committee on many occasions. We have three significant apartment projects under way under the repair and lease scheme and potentially three former public houses being converted into apartments. I spoke to the local authority yesterday and it is dealing with its first tenants who are over the limit for social housing.

They are looking at them for either the cost-rental or tenant in situschemes. Real action is being taken. Local authorities are engaging with tenants at risk of eviction.

Croí Cónaithe has been a game changer. Many members on this committee were vehemently critical of the scheme. When we first launched the scheme, many people in rural Ireland said they had identified flaws in it. They said there was not enough money and they would like to see it expanded to houses that potentially could be rented afterwards. Hey presto, the Government responded and announced those changes today. The Minister’s whole policy and raison d'êtrein housing has been that he identifies a problem and then reacts. He is making the difference.

Builders say the houses they are building now are not the same as the houses we built in 2008. We had the mica scandal, apartment defects and many issues. A builder will tell you anecdotally that what he built in 2008 he could not build now pro rata. A three-bedroom bog-standard entry house is probably €80,000 more expensive and will take at least six months longer to build to B2- or A-rated standard. The specs of the houses being built now are second to none, not only in Ireland but possibly in Europe. We have to take account of that as well.

I wish to flag two issues since the two out of three Ministers from the Department are present. One of those is the tenant purchase scheme. The rules on that were changed towards the end of last year. Previously, it would have been two years’ tenancy before someone could apply for it and then a ten-year rule was brought in. Most people accept the logic of it, which is to try to keep the housing in stock. The difficulty is, to give an anecdotal example, a couple in their 40s who get allocated a local house. If they have to wait to ten years before they can pursue the option of buying that out, they will get caught when they try to get finance. In reality, they will not get a loan. I suggest that be changed to five years. Will the Minister and Minster of State take that on board and look at it? It is a reasonable halfway house between two and ten years. Ten years is prohibitive. I would like them to take that on board.

The other issue is the old affordable housing scheme, which predated 2002. Basically, my understanding at the moment is that approximately 2,000 households throughout the country are in limbo. In essence, many of them bought houses under the scheme in the early 1990s and continued to redeem what they understood to be a straightforward mortgage while also paying rent to the local authority. However, the net result is, 30 years down the road, they are still redeeming what they understood were mortgages but are actually the same value almost as the mortgage that they took out. It probably is better described as an equity stake in the house rather than a mortgage. It is probably more troubling in counties where house prices have not risen at scale, such as Longford and broader midlands counties. The houses are actually worth less now than when the people took out the mortgage.

A case in point is a lady I know who is poised to retire. She has worked hard all her life. She never missed a single payment or a single week’s rent on that house. She should be looking forward to the warm glow of home ownership as she enters retirement. Instead, she has seen two interest rate rises in the past two years. She is continuing to pay €90 a week rent and €264 mortgage a month, and she still has approximately €130,000 to redeem on that. The local authority wants her to restructure her loan, but the essence of restructuring is that she will forego her right to ownership of that house, which seems deeply unfair. The second ask I have is that we try to remedy this. It is a deeply unfair scenario. It gnaws at people when they hear that we are ruling out affordable housing. These people are in houses that were the forerunners of affordable housing and they have effectively an anchor around their future prospects. The cost involved is not huge. It is 2,000 households, so it is probably €20 million. When I say it quickly, it is not an awful lot, but I appreciate that to look for €20 million is probably a lot money. There is an unfairness in it. My understanding is there probably is a willingness at government level but not at official level to do something about this. Hopefully, the relevant officials, if not here, are listening in. It is deeply unfair and it should be looked at.

In the brief time the Minister has left, could he come back specifically on the tenant purchase scheme and the pre-2002 shared ownership scheme?