Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

In theory it may be possible to have an equal society, but I am not sure whether this can happen in practice. Two elements that can greatly assist us towards aspiring to an equal society are education and housing. I do not believe housing is just about affordability and reaching a certain number of construction units. In the limited time available I want to put my most important points first. There are three slightly related issues I want to raise initially, and I would like the Minister of State and his officials to take cognisance of them.

The first is the impact of density. In recent years there has been a great push towards utilising infrastructure and increasing density. Without any scientific basis for saying this, I believe that this over-emphasis on density is increasing our social problems. I have anecdotal evidence that when Darndale was being constructed a document written by a British sociologist showed this to be the case. I do not know whether such a document exists, but I am told it did. I do not know whether it can be tracked down, but we should carry out some research in that area.

My second concern is the concept of affordable housing. It is populist for all of us to talk about affordable housing and I agree with the general principle. However, the Department should carry out a survey to determine who actually pays for the affordable housing. The State does not pay for it. The developer certainly does not pay for it. I wonder who actually pays for it and I should like to see the impact of affordable housing on the 80% of non-affordable housing.

As regards affordable housing, I have raised in correspondence with the Minister the consequences of the clawback. My understanding is that somebody who might have taken out a loan under sections 9 or 10 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2002 either bought an affordable house from the local authority or obtained a shared ownership loan for affordable housing. If he or she wants to change the mortgage to a financial institution, however, the clawback is on the mortgage, and not on the property, so the market value must be paid at current price levels. I have come across a few such cases. It is unfair and the legislation needs to be amended. Somebody who bought an affordable house for €146,000 just over a year ago under the shared ownership scheme now wishes to change the mortgage only to be told he or she must pay in the region of €220,000 or €230,000 to be able to move the mortgage to a financial institution. I would like the Minister of State to examine that.

I would also like him to examine another issue which is evolving, but which has not received much publicity to date, namely, the tension that can be created within a community when new people move into an area. This is an issue that is only starting to evolve in our society because the population has just begun to increase after almost two centuries. In many towns along the ring around Dublin, Cork or Galway one hears established communities complaining they no longer know their neighbours. While I am not suggesting we will have riots such as those in France as a result, there is a growing tension in some of those towns. I do not know how the problem may be overcome. Perhaps the onus should be on the old community to open its arms and welcome people in rather than having a "them and us" society. When people move into a new area there should be an onus on the developer, perhaps, to furnish them with a development plan or related proposals for the next few years. We have all encountered people who have moved in to what they perceived to be a new estate with green fields all around only to find major building works taking place within a few months that they had never anticipated. We, as public representatives, are familiar with development plans and tend to assume everybody else is also. However, most of the population knows little enough about the subject.

Those three issues are important, namely the impact of density, who pays for the affordable house with the related issue of the clawback and the possible tensions that may evolve in time between new and old communities.

I want to raise a few other points, including local authority housing. The issue of density and reaching certain targets comes into play in this regard. In the last few years there has been an over-emphasis by local authorities on getting a certain number of units constructed. I am not saying we need to go at a snail's pace, but it is important the job is done right. I do not like the concept of many open spaces on existing estates being built on due to a shortage of land banks. It is a short-term gain. I urge the Minister of State to encourage local authorities to build houses but not to crack the whip in the hope they will reach a certain number.

Another issue of concern is the buy-out of local authority houses. I am sure it is the same within all local authorities that when someone buys out a house he or she gets maximum relief of 3% a year for a ten year period, equivalent to 30%. I do not know whether he or she qualifies for the first-time buyer's grant as well. It is now gone, but maybe it is built in as an allowance. Someone might have bought such a house in an estate five or six years ago for €50,000 or €60,000 and received the relief. Now a neighbour might seek to buy it and finds the house is costing €170,000 or €180,000 due to inflation in the housing market. This needs to be examined.

Some families have lived in houses of this type for 20, 30 and more years, paying rent. An extension of buy-out relief for local authority houses needs to be examined. It is not going to cost the State anything. These are houses that remain in the possession of the families concerned. Many elderly people want to buy out their houses so their children may have them. This should be reviewed so that the 3% relief is carried on consistently up to 90% of the cost of the house perhaps. Many of these people have paid the equivalent of the house's market value in rent over the years, time and again.

When local authorities are planning developments these should contain a certain complement of single-storey houses of one and two bedrooms for the elderly or for people who want to return from abroad. That same stipulation should be included in private developments. Again, due to the growth in population there has been a rapid increase in the number of houses under construction, particularly in proximity to cities. I have always been a great advocate of the need to welcome new people into an area. It is nice to mix the blood, so to speak, and introduce new housing. However, in many smaller towns existing infrastructure cannot cope with the traffic. For reasons of street landscape, topography etc. it is not found to be cost-effective to put the necessary infrastructure in place to ensure people can move around relatively freely, as in the past. We have got to examine the concept of new towns in every county surrounding Dublin. There is an area outside Greystones called Charlesland, with 1,400 houses. In effect it is a new town, although it does not have schools etc. and people must get the shuttle bus into Greystones. There comes a time when we must stop adding on to certain towns and look at the alternatives. Let there be a new town created in north Kildare, south Meath, north-east or north-west Wicklow or wherever to cater for the population. The local authority concerned should be proactive, buy the land, tender a certain amount for private development, for commercial use and so on.

I want to finish up by addressing two issues. One is about the funding for infrastructure in the mid-east region. The Minister of State might not be aware, but a report is to be submitted shortly to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government outlining how the mid-east region of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow has been underfunded relative to other areas over a period of time. Between 1996 and 2002, the funding went from 81% per head of population to 70%. I do not want to get into conflict with other regions, but I have listened to many pressure groups moaning and groaning about the difficulties they encounter. In the mid east, we have the population, the houses and all the consequential difficulties that they bring, but we have not got the funding commensurate with that increase in population. Most of the people that have moved there actually work in Dublin. Around 76% of those in the mid east region in 2002 that were not there in 2001 come from Dublin. I welcome them, but we must have the infrastructure in place to deal with them because the lack of it is causing difficulties for the communities that were already there.

I do not know if the rural housing guidelines are proving to be effective. The first anniversary of these guidelines are coming up next May, so the Minister should take a look at their effectiveness or otherwise. My experience is that planners will use every mechanism in the book to prevent the building of houses in rural areas. They will find some element in the small print to block the construction of such houses.

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