Arthur Morgan (Louth, Sinn Fein)

I thank all who took part in this debate. In particular, I thank Members from this side of the House because despite various political differences, there is unanimity in respect of this Bill on Part V tabled by Sinn Féin. My party recognises that Part V is not the solution to the housing crisis in this State but is merely a small part of the solution. However, were this amendment to be accepted by the Government, it would at least go some way towards improving the problem and ensuring a proper social mix within the local authority housing sector.

I listened, almost with amusement, to the remarks of the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Noel Ahern, about the Bill introduced by Sinn Féin. All are clear that there is a housing crisis in this State except for the Minister of State with special responsibility for housing. Members have listened to the Minister of State bandy about all sorts of figures and statistics to the effect that waiting lists are falling and housing output is increasing. This assertion by the Minister of State neglects the underlying reasons social housing waiting lists have fallen and housing output has risen.

Part of the reason for the waiting list falling from 48,000 to 44,000 is the obligation placed on families on the social housing waiting list to fill in a 22-page assessment form. Although the Department has been approving eligibility to go on the social housing waiting lists based on this 22-page form, this did not recognise that many people were simply unable to fill out the form or may have made a small error on the form thus causing their applications to be discounted, or many simply did not return the form. Such people are unaware they are no longer on the housing waiting list.

There was much talk from the Minister of State in this debate about people misinterpreting Part V of the Planning and Development Act. There is absolutely no misinterpretation of Part V by my party. In one part of his speech, the Minister of State claimed that Part V was "an important mechanism in [the] approach to meeting the ... increasing demands for ... housing". However, later in his speech, he stated the maximum potential yield from Part V could be up to 3,000 units per annum. Hence, it is quite clear that in its current state, Part V is not delivering what the Government would have Members believe. It is not delivering on the social housing units required to house the 44,000 family units on the social housing waiting lists.

Part V is not about the development of preferred options, as the Minister of State put it. If a local authority has no funding, no option exists. When local authorities are underfunded it becomes completely irrelevant and they will take the money from developers. If Part V was delivering, thousands of people would not remain on waiting lists, nor would thousands more, who because the Government has done nothing to stabilise the increases in house prices lack the means to purchase their own home, be obliged to live in sub-standard private rented accommodation owned by landlords, some of whom do not even comply with basic minimum legal requirements.

Last night, the Minister of State asked me what would be achieved by amending Part V of the Planning and Development Act. I will explain it to him in simple terms. As the Bill states that developers will provide units or sites, logic would dictate that it would do exactly that, namely, it would provide units or sites.

Developers throughout this State have been let off the hook when it comes to this cash option and are buying their way out of their social obligations. Although overall housing output has risen, in percentage terms, the social housing output is decreasing steadily. Many people cannot afford to buy and many more cannot get on the social housing list. Even if one succeeds in so doing, one could be obliged to wait for seven years or longer to get a house.

Talk of ring-fencing €38 million for social and affordable housing is almost worthless unless the Department has a plan to start the process of constructing another 73,000 social housing units between now and 2012, as recommended by NESC, to meet the social housing needs of this State. As it stands, Part V provides flexibility. It is flexible enough to ensure that more private units are built and the fat cat pals of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats can get even fatter. The Minister of State's friends from the Galway races scratch his back with political donations and he scratches their backs with the absolute farce that is Part V in its current form.

Sinn Féin brought this Bill before the House because we believe in equality, namely, the provision of quality housing that is available to all and not just those who are lucky enough to have the means to afford it. We believe that people should not be forced to live in ghettos, which they have been for many decades in this State. It is an absolute scandal that we live in a State where 44,000 families are on the waiting list for social housing, where we spend more than €1 million a day subsidising private landlords through the rental accommodation scheme, where mortgage interest rates rise percentage upon percentage each quarter, where house prices, for the most part, can increase by 17% in comparison to the previous year and where the Government still has the cheek to tell people that it is combating the housing crisis or, in the case of the Minister with responsibility for housing, denies the existence of a crisis.

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