John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this debate today. The manner in which the debate is structured is broad and far reaching. The housing market in Ireland has changed significantly in recent years. This debate spans many of those changes. The housing market has changed for several reasons. There has been a significant increase in the population. We have smaller families, with more family units and so on. From the early 1960s to the early part of this century, the population grew from less than 3 million to more than 4 million. We have also had a significant movement of the population to the greater Dublin area, amongst other areas.

One abiding issue is that demand has far exceeded the supply, resulting in the increase in house prices. However, for the past seven or eight years, housing output and completions have increased annually. There are just under 80,000 housing unit completions per annum. Members from the Opposition will say they are not all available for housing, because some of them are holiday homes and so on. I acknowledge that, but it is still a very significant figure. Deputy Timmins spoke about the contribution under Part V of the Planning Act and asked who paid for it in the long run. It must be stated that house prices are completely a function of supply versus demand. They are not directly related to the cost of construction and site and development levies. We have all seen houses go on the market at a certain price and within a short period of time, the price has increased significantly. The price of houses is certainly a function of the price the market will bear. In any realistic debate, that is an important point to remember.

It is worth acknowledging that many individuals have gained from the increase in house prices. It has increased their equity and they have used it to invest in other properties and so on. It has added a degree of security and pension entitlements for those individuals. This is one aspect of house price increases that is positive. On the other hand, I acknowledge that there are difficulties for those trying to enter the market for the first time. Those difficulties are precisely because of the increase in house prices. In last year's budget, the Minister for Finance changed stamp duty for first time buyers of houses. While some people have been critical, claiming that it was not significant, I have met a number of individuals who have bought second-hand houses that they could only dream about before. Instead of buying a new house in a new housing estate in areas that do not have many new houses, it afforded them the opportunity to reside in their own communities. The threshold was set at €317,000. It was supposed to reflect what the average house price was for first time buyers. Those prices have gone up in the intervening 12 months and I hope the threshold will be changed in the forthcoming budget. The same number of people accommodated last year should be accommodated. The policy should not change, but the figure should reflect the average price for a first time buyer.

Affordable housing falls into a number of different categories. Part V of the Planning and Development Act is often mentioned, but I would first refer to some specific Government initiatives and how different Departments have addressed the issue. Yesterday, the Minister for Agriculture and Food responded to a question on the affordable housing initiative with regard to her Department. Many Dublin people would wonder why the Minister for Agriculture and Food has an impact on this issue. She stated that her Department had identified six sites for consideration, in Counties Cork, Dublin, Galway and Kildare. The sites in Cork were located in Clonakilty and Model Farm Road in Cork city. Sites in Dublin were located in Harcourt Terrace, Dublin city and in the townland of Backstown near Lucan. She stated that the county council is progressing the project in Clonakilty as a matter of priority and that it has gone through the local consultation process in developing a model rural village near the town. She stated that the Government had noted the progress on the site in Harcourt Terrace in Dublin city and that the site is subject to a land-swap, whereby South Dublin County Council will receive completed housing in lieu of the site. The other sites are at various stages of assessment by the local authorities. When we refer to affordable housing, we only think of what is being done under Part V of the planning Act, when much more is actually being done.

The Harcourt Terrace site will be vacated by the Department at the end of the current year, according to the Minister. The laboratory activities there will be relocated. The land-swap will see South Dublin County Council receive 193 completed housing units early next year in Clondalkin. The significance of this deal is that it is fast tracking affordable housing. I cannot say the same has always been achieved under Part V, but this under this deal 193 units have been fast-tracked that would not have been delivered in such a manner.

However, affordable housing is also being developed in my local area under Part V of the Planning and Development Act. To date, a significant number of families has bought and moved into new homes in my area. More are to do likewise in the coming year. It is regrettable to say that the same has not happened in every local authority area. There is an onus on all locally elected councillors and council management to deal with this issue and to implement in a meaningful way Part V of the Act in order to provide affordable houses locally. I regret that has not happened.

With regard to my area of South Dublin County Council, early in October, the Minster for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, officially opened what is referred to as the property path. It is a new housing sales office in the county hall in Tallaght, Dublin 24. It is a contemporary sales office which creates a modern, welcoming and helpful environment for people buying their first home and is an innovation on the part of the housing department of South Dublin County Council. In other words, it is like entering an estate agent's office. The office offers affordable housing, shared ownership purchase and tenant purchase homes. It deals with customers from their initial exploratory information requirements all the way through to the provision of information on the availability of new affordable housing developments. Hence, rather than simply telephoning to ask what is available, one can go to that office where one will be shown the plans and what is becoming available. Before one fills out an application form, one will meet what in commercial terms could be described as a sales agent, who will explain it. It is innovative and I was deeply impressed by this development. As a public representative, I have no hesitation in referring constituents to the Property Path sales office to see what is available and it will provide the initial information. As usual, constituents return looking for assistance with the completion of forms and so forth, but it has been absolutely innovative and I encourage other local authorities to do likewise.

I also wish to discuss the issue of social housing and the council's housing programme. In the time available, I want to examine its housing construction programme but as I do, I also wish to comment that local authorities have a responsibility in respect of their existing housing stock and tenants and how they are treated. Many of those houses are quite old and were built at a time when there was no insulation, no double glazing and no central heating.

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