James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)

I thank the Labour Party and Sinn Féin for bringing this important motion before the House, which Fine Gael supports.

Homelessness in 21st century Ireland has taken on a whole new meaning and reality for a broad-based spectrum of people who are falling victim to the current economic crisis. We are seeing a new threat of homelessness generated by house repossessions. The social wreckage that has been caused by the giving of loans to people who cannot afford to repay them is impacting on the rapidly rising homeless figures.

According to the Financial Regulator almost 14,000 mortgages were more than three months in arrears at the end of June this year. That figure represents 1.4% of residential mortgages and is up from the end of December 2006, when 11,252 mortgages or 1.2% of all mortgages were in arrears. Figures for repossessions by court order show that there was a total of 128 repossessions between January 2005 and June 2008.

The Labour Party is calling for a new code of practice for financial institutions to provide for a moratorium on repossession orders for family homes during the current recession. I support such a move. I called on the Government in an Adjournment motion last month to introduce mortgage rescue schemes similar to those already in operation in many European Union countries.

The rising number of homeless people will impact adversely on the inadequate Government provision of social housing, with the numbers on the waiting lists rising from 43,000 in 2005 to in excess of 56,000 at the end of March this year. It is disturbing to think there are also 5,000 plus people experiencing homelessness in this country currently, of which a shockingly high proportion are children. Within a quarter of a mile of the Houses of the Oireachtas one can see homeless people sleeping in doorways and alleys. That is a grave indictment of the Government's housing policy and an indication of the imperative need to address the problem.

The situation arises at a time when the traditional support systems are under severe financial pressure, due to the economic downturn and Government cutbacks. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, which has been the bedrock of aid and support, has said this week that several of its branches, particularly in urban areas, are running out of money.

The Simon Community has warned that its services are operating at full capacity and that it urgently needs more support as homelessness is due to rise. Origins of home ownership in Ireland date back to the rural land reforms of the early 20th century and the policy of tenant purchase of local authority housing, which emerged from reform precedents and led to a long tradition of grant giving. Fiscal supports for owner occupation have also played an important role in the development of housing policy. Housing rights, as defined at UN level, include the right to affordable housing, but personal or household costs should not threaten or compromise the attainment or satisfaction of other basic needs.

Rights to adequate housing should be in tandem with a location which allows access to employment, health care, schools, child care and other social facilities. The Council of Europe is creating a precise definition of affordable housing rights in accordance with Article 31 of the revised social charter — although the Government has refused to ratify this article. We are, unfortunately, dealing with a Government that lacks credibility, whose policies have failed to deliver for those most in need — and its housing policy has been high on aspiration and spin, with no delivery. A Government that cannot provide housing for its citizens, which is the most basic of human needs and rights, looks to others to do it. The social partnership agreement, Towards 2016, endorsed the principles set out in Building Sustainable Communities. It envisaged that through the provision of social and affordable housing, the housing needs of 60,000 households would be met between 2007-09, according to the Irish Council for Social Housing. This is just another useless aspiration, an empty promise from the Fianna Fáil-Green Party Government, and the way it has behaved since the last general election is scandalous. It promised plenty and has delivered little.

Due to the last housing boom, developers had a free hand, literally, throwing up houses wherever they could without providing the necessary facilities, which of course were promised but never delivered. There are currently 300 recorded unfinished estates in the country, which are long past their completion dates and by no means up to taking-in-charge standards.

The Minister of State has failed to address the excessive enforcement period, which under section 180 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 provides for a seven year check to ensure developers have completed an estate to the required standard. This is totally ridiculous, working as it does in the interest of the developer, against the owner occupiers.

The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement published guidelines on management companies today, but unfortunately it does not offer much in the way of positive help to apartment holders who fall victim to such companies. What is needed is legislation to copperfasten suggestions as outlined in these guidelines, but where is it? My colleague, Deputy Terence Flanagan, has asked on numerous occasions when such legislation will come before the House. On each occasion he was assured it was being drafted, but it is still no further on, today. Unless it is being produced to the standard of a work of art or Celtic treasure, surely the Minister of State will agree that the drafting process is going on for an unduly long time. The losers are the apartment owners who are being ripped off by both the Government and the management companies, which are being allowed to get away with blatant extortion. The Minister of State should end the delay and bring the property services regulatory authority Bill before the House directly after the Christmas recess. That is why I believe we should come back one week earlier to introduce this and other pending legislation. The long break in the month of January is scandalous when the country is in crisis and on its knees.

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