Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I thank all the Members who contributed to this debate, particularly those Opposition Members who are supporting the Labour Party motion this evening.

Yesterday evening, in response to the motion, the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Noel Ahern, offered a mixture of flattery and delusion. Having considered the Labour Party motion and concluded that it was a good idea, the Minister of State's response was to remind the Labour Party that the Government has already launched that policy and welcome that party's endorsement of its approach. The Labour Party, he said, had picked up on many of the elements of the Government's statement in its policy document. It appears that the Government's first response when faced with ten good ideas from the Labour Party on how to deal with the housing problem is to throw the cloak around it and say "that is a great idea and we are doing it already". If that were really the case the Minister of State would not have proposed an amendment to the motion which begins with the words "To delete all words after 'Dáil Éireann'" and substitute a long litany of delusional Government platitudes.

The Minister of State acknowledges the achievements of the Government in "improving affordability for first-time buyers through targeted measures". The Central Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ireland in its Financial Stability Report published last week states: "Following the publication of last year's Report a reacceleration emerged in annual house price increases. . . . [A continuation of high] increases in house prices, along with increasing interest rates, is contributing to a deterioration in affordability in the residential market." So much for the Government's platitude that it is improving affordability.

The Minister of State said that the Government is "taking action to improve the regulation of property services and to address various issues relating to the management of common areas and facilities in private developments...". It is doing no such thing and in the text of the Minister of State's speech the issue of dealing with management companies is lost somewhere between the Law Reform Commission, the auctioneer and estate agents review group and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The Government has certainly not taken any action to control and regulate management companies and management charges in private developments.

He spoke about the introduction of "ground-breaking legislation under Part V of the Planning and Development Acts" and said that the Government is "significantly increasing delivery under Part V in terms of both social and affordable housing;". It is not. The Government gutted Part V of the Planning and Development Acts. Even by a conservative estimate, Part V should by now have delivered 40,000 homes, instead it has delivered 3,000. That leaves 37,000 families who should today be living in an affordable home that this Government handed back before Christmas 2002 as a gift to private developers.

The Government says it is bringing forward the housing action plan to increase the supply of social housing. We can judge it only by its results. In the richest of times, after ten years of this coalition in Government there are twice as many people on social housing lists as were on it when the coalition took office. That is so even after the Government changed the method of counting these people in order to make the figures look good.

The Government compliments itself on the introduction of the rental accommodation scheme. This scheme and the rent allowance scheme, as operated, are nothing more than the privatisation of social housing for the benefit of many of those who have in the first place benefited from tax-supported investment properties.

This country needs a change in housing policy and if this Government votes down the Labour Party motion tonight the only way this will be achieved is by a change of Government.

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