Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

It is waffle. The Government has no answers on this. I accept that we need to change the current system because the €400 million paid each year is going down the drain. The landlords who receive that money are taking advantage of people who would otherwise be in social housing. The ninth progress report of the All-Party Committee on the Constitution presented one aspect of the solution when it recommended that local authorities should be given the power to compulsorily purchase land at existing use value. That would at least deal with the most expensive part of housing provision — the cost of land. It is most unfortunate that we do not have more time to discuss this important issue because we need to do something to wake up the Government. We will certainly be supporting the motion.

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