Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:

"welcomes:

the comprehensive and ambitious modern housing policy framework set out in Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities, and the continuing substantial progress made in implementing its programme of policy reforms and improvements in housing services and their delivery, to be underpinned by the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008;

the achievement of the 9,000 social housing 'starts' target under Towards 2016 in 2007 and the continued high level of activity which will deliver in excess of 9,000 social housing completions in 2008;

the significant overall progress made in 2007 when the needs of a record 18,300 households were met through the range of housing programmes in place, a very credible first step towards achieving the National Development Plan target of meeting the needs of an average of 20,000 households per annum over the seven year period of the plan;

the substantial increase in the delivery of affordable housing to over 3,500 units in 2007, with an output of over 4,000 anticipated for 2008, and proposed new options for the more efficient and equitable delivery of affordable housing announced in the context of budget 2009;

the publication of an ambitious new homeless strategy, The Way Home, which, building on strong progress made under previous strategies, sets out a vision for addressing adult homelessness over the next five years, and reflects the Government's commitment to addressing homelessness in a comprehensive and coordinated manner;

the introduction of a revised suite of housing adaptation grants for older people and people with a disability to provide a more targeted and integrated response to their housing needs;

the progress made in implementing the second round of local authority traveller accommodation programmes, with some 1156 traveller families accommodated under the programmes up to end 2007;

the recently approved range of measures which significantly improve the standards for rented accommodation, the doubling of funding for inspections by local authorities between 2005 and 2007 and the achievement of a 42% increase in the number of inspections carried out in 2007 compared with 2006;

the significant changes made to means testing under rent supplement to provide greater incentives for recipients to take up employment; and

the clear and focused response of the Government to unprecedented conditions in the financial and housing markets by developing the new Home Choice loan to assist prospective first time buyers affected by the credit crunch, the provision of improved mortgage interest relief arrangements for first time buyers, and the availability of effective supports for existing home owners having difficulties in meeting mortgage repayments;

notes the outcome of the Financial Regulator's examination of procedures for handling mortgage arrears and repossessions across credit institutions and other mortgage lenders, including the findings that lenders generally have procedures in place which clearly state that the repossession of a residential property is a last resort, borne out by the limited numbers of repossessions secured through court orders, and the issuing, by the Regulator, of best practice guidance prepared on foot of its examination; and

welcoming the Government's clear prioritisation of housing through the provision of almost €1.66 billion in funding for 2009 across the range of social and affordable housing programmes and the strong focus in prioritising the needs of the most disadvantaged households within the overall allocation, supports the Government's key objectives for 2009 to:

continue the strong momentum towards meeting our commitments in Towards 2016 and our longer-term goals under the national development plan, including meeting social housing needs through long-term leasing of available private accommodation and through a substantial expansion of the number of households transferring to the rental accommodation scheme;

complete the implementation plan for the new homeless strategy and roll out a comprehensive implementation agenda, supported by funding which is being increased by 5% in 2009;

complete and publish a national housing policy for people with a disability;

ensure the adoption of new five year traveller accommodation programmes by all local authorities;

roll out a programme of Towards Carbon Neutral demonstration projects, commence a house condition survey of the local authority rented stock and progress a number of pilot retrofitting projects as part of an overall strategy for modernising the building and energy standards of the public housing stock;

complete the passage of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008 through the Oireachtas, including the introduction of provisions in relation to the prevention and reduction of anti-social behaviour in the local authority housing stock, and the extension of the tenant purchase scheme to local authority flats;

complete the implementation of the new standards regime for rented accommodation and continue the programme of strengthening the local authority enforcement regime; extend the range of supports for home ownership through commencement of the home choice loan scheme on 1 January 2009, introduction of revised arrangements for affordable home purchases and the roll-out of the incremental purchase scheme;

bring forward legislative proposals in response to the Law Reform Commission's report on multi-unit developments; and

keep the mortgage market under review, having regard to the information available from the Financial Regulator and the banking sector, to ensure that households in difficulty with mortgage repayments receive fair treatment by mortgage lenders and can continue to avail of financial assistance under the supplementary welfare allowance system, where necessary."

As the Minister of State with responsibility for housing, I am pleased to move the Government's amending motion in this debate. I never cease to be amazed by the Labour Party's capacity to repeatedly table ill-judged motions, providing the Government with opportunity after opportunity to respond easily to its wide-of-the-mark claims by outlining our significant achievements. Given the time of year, the Labour Party Deputies remind me of turkeys voting for Christmas. For the purposes of tonight's debate, they have been joined by the Members of the Sinn Féin branch of the turkey family. If they will insist on playing the turkeys, we are happy to do the stuffing.

I want to use my time this evening to do two things. First, I want to outline recent developments in our housing policy and programmes, particularly in our housing policy statement, Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities, which was published early last year. Second, I want to respond to some of the reckless scaremongering by elements of the Opposition concerning house repossessions, which were described in a performance by the Labour Party leader that I can only call hysterical as Ireland's biggest ticking social time bomb.

Like all the best scaremongering, this is without foundation in fact. It seeks to create panic and unease in households already feeling the effects of the current economic conditions, the very households for which the Labour Party purports to be concerned. I will revert to this matter later.

I want to outline how the Government has consistently delivered on highly ambitious policy objectives and output targets for housing in Ireland. The Government's policy statement, Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities, sets out a vision to guide the transformation of the housing sector in the medium term by delivering more and better quality housing responses in a more strategic way focused on the building of sustainable communities.

We are working on the implementation issues that need to be addressed to transform the housing environment to meet the challenges arising, many of which are identified in the policy statement. I am pleased to say that substantial strides forward have already been made. In recent years, we have made considerable progress in meeting housing needs through the broad range of social and affordable housing programmes. In 2007 alone, more than 13,000 social and affordable housing units were delivered and the needs of almost 18,300 households were met across the housing spectrum. This represents a significant increase of 24% on the level of needs met in 2006 and a significant step towards assisting an average of 20,000 households per annum over the seven years of the National Development Plan 2007-2013.

We hear much noise but little content from the Labour Party and Sinn Féin regarding housing. They hope that their noise will drown out the facts. It is time that the Labour Party faced up to the facts. When it was last in office in 1997, the needs of 9,300 households were met by the housing programmes in place. Last year, the Government's range of programmes met the needs of 18,300 households. While the truth hurts, this Government is meeting housing needs at double the level delivered by the Labour Party. I would have thought that before the Labour Party decided to try to lecture this side of the House, it would have undertaken at least some element of self-assessment of its own performance. This is not surprising, as the turkeys voting for Christmas phenomenon is alive and well on the benches opposite.

See this speech in context