Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)

I support the Labour Party motion on the introduction of a new national housing policy so that everyone can have a home of good quality. This may be a difficult task but, if the political will exists, it can be achieved despite the damage which has been done by the present Government and its builder and developer friends.

The average cost of a house in Dublin now exceeds €420,000, while houses in former local authority estates in Cabra and East Wall are beyond the reach of the young people who grew up in them. Only relatively affluent professionals can afford to spend half a million euro to purchase homes in these areas.

Earlier this evening, I attended a meeting between residents from the Ballybough area and Dublin City Council. The residents are long-standing tenants in the council's inner-city houses who had previously had to put up with Dickensian conditions in corporation flats. Now they want to purchase their homes from the council but, even with discounts for long tenancy, the price is beyond their reach because the market value is being applied. A new tenant purchase scheme is needed, with a better discount for tenants. A special case can be made in that regard for Dublin, where house prices greatly exceed the national average. I urge the Minister to respond to this need by acting responsibly.

I note in today's edition of The Irish Times that the Government's affordable housing strategy is already failing in Dublin city before it has even left the ground, mainly because the so-called affordable houses comprise small apartments and, in most cases, the least attractive units in developments which often only attract single people. Most families and couples in Dublin continue to aspire to a house of their own and the unaffordability of houses in the city is driving families to counties Meath and Westmeath.

Others are tying themselves to a crippling, life-long mortgage and paying crazy prices for the smallest and least attractive houses. Only investors and the affluent can really afford an average house in Dublin city today. This is the legacy of the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats Government, which has neglected this vital social issue for so long, largely because it is beholden to its builder-developer paymasters. I support this motion in its entirety because a radical and comprehensive housing policy is essential to reverse the neglect of the past decade.

See this speech in context