Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I will restrict my comments to the issues of social and affordable housing and Government inaction on house prices. I will be restricted further in addressing them as it would take all week to discuss them fully. The Government's strategy to tackle the housing crisis which has affected the State for the best part of the last decade is based on the laissez-faire theory that the market will eventually solve all problems. On the basis of that theory, house prices have been allowed to spiral beyond the reach of many ordinary working people in the State. A substantial percentage of the population falls below the affordability thresholds and is not, therefore, in a position to purchase homes. According to the NESC report, up to one third of all new households, or almost 14,000 annually, formed in the period 2001 to 2006 fall far below the affordability threshold. The figure was as high as 42% in some urban areas. These circumstances have developed despite Government denials about the existence and extent of the affordability crisis. The supply of social and affordable housing is not adequate to meet the needs of these people.

The Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, is fond of regaling the House with tales of the number of houses being constructed in the State. Tonight, we have heard Government backbenchers utter the same nonsense. The Minister of State, however, is unable to tell the House the precise percentage of houses being built as second homes. Perhaps he does not want to admit that of the number of houses built each year, the percentage which are second homes outstrips those which constitute social housing by a factor of three to one. Is it right that there is no tax on second homes, the proliferation of which exacerbates affordability problems, especially for people in parts of rural Ireland, including the western seaboard and the south east? Is it right that some people can have two houses without an additional tax liability while others have none?

It is wrong that Government policy does nothing to counteract these developments. Is there not something fundamentally wrong when State policies do nothing to disincentivise the ownership of multiple dwellings while some remain homeless? The activity is incentivised by a significant number of tax reliefs, including mortgage interest tax relief for landlords and the so-called targeted supply subsidies such as sections 23 and 50 tax relief. Will the Government act on the recommendations contained in the NESC report on housing and introduce a tax on second homes? The NESC is not some radical, left wing group, but a Government agency.

The Government's stock response to the house price crisis is that with the current high level of output, balance between supply and demand will be achieved allowing prices to stabilise and affordability problems to be resolved. The Government's view is contradicted by the NESC report which states that the number of people eager to purchase a home but unable to do so under market conditions is unlikely to get smaller. According to the report, any improvement in affordability due to further restrictions in the rate of increase in house prices and the catch-up of earnings relative to them is likely to be more than offset by interest rate rises.

I challenge the Minister of State to bring proposals before the House to meet the housing needs of those on local authority waiting lists who vainly hope to secure one of the few units of social or affordable housing being constructed for those priced out of the housing market. If he has no solution to offer, he should have the dignity to resign.

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