Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

I am delighted to have the opportunity to say a few words on this motion. I welcome the fact that many new houses are being built in Ireland at present. However, as has been pointed out, supply has outstripped demand and there are now 30,000 vacant houses. The new housing surge is welcome and is driving much of the economy, especially in rural Ireland.

That said, I am concerned by the level of indebtedness of many young people. I recently read that household debt could reach 160% of disposable income within two years, up from 50% in 1995. It will reach 120% by the end of this year. Much of that is being fuelled by huge mortgages taken out to buy houses and even second houses. The market is being driven by investors in most cases. In many rural towns, investors rather than families are buying houses. I live in an estate where probably 50% of the houses are privately owned, while the rest belong to investors. That is the current trend. Deputy McGuinness mentioned the figure of €380 million in rent subsidy. Most of these houses are being subsidised by taxpayers.

In the UK, the number of people unable to pay their debts and applying for bankruptcy reached its highest level since records began 35 years ago. Many of these people took out mortgages for houses. I hope there will not be any blip in the European Central Bank interest rates. If there is to be a blip, there will be casualties. I hope that this does not happen because if it did, the economy would suffer a shock.

It is predicted that around 77,000 houses will be built per annum up to 2008. In Kerry, 3,121 people were on the social housing list on 7 October. That is one of the highest figures I know. I was on the local authority there for a number of years. It was never at that level. In Tralee there are people on the housing list that could not expect to be housed for up to ten years. They cannot get any other form of housing, so that is of great concern. The Government Deputies will support what the Minister is doing and the Opposition will try to say he is not doing enough. That is natural. The reality is that there is a problem that must be addressed.

The guidelines for rural housing are making no difference because the county development plan is taking precedence over them. If sewerage provision were made available to the 28 villages in Kerry that have applied for it, it would relieve the housing shortage considerably in the county. It would reduce the cost of land and housing.

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