Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

I wish to share my time with Deputy Ciaran Lynch. I compliment Deputies Ellis and Stanley on their maiden speeches which were well made.

I am happy to address the House as Minister of State with responsibility for housing and planning. Housing and planning have always been two critical areas of public policy in Ireland but their importance has never been greater than it is now, facing as we do the greatest challenges we have had to face as an independent State. That is why getting these areas right, getting them in order and properly tackling the legacy problems which still grip our economy, communities and our people will be the task I set myself during my time as Minister of State. The programme for Government provides me with a strong mandate to do so.

In the planning area, I will develop and implement initiatives over the coming months to refocus around a number of new priorities, including more co-ordinated national, regional and local planning to achieve better developments that support local communities, making provision for transport, schools, local amenities and avoidance of flood risk more central to the planning process and delivering higher quality in our physical surroundings.

As Deputy Stanley said, unfinished estates are a significant issue and in planning for the future, we must apply the hard lessons learned from the past. It is unacceptable that people who bought homes in good faith should now be left to endure the substandard living conditions of our unfinished estates. Most serious of all are those developments where unfinished building works are not properly secured meaning that local children looking for somewhere to play can gain access to hazardous and sometimes dangerous places. The Government has a strong resolve to deal coherently with unfinished estates. Our approach will involve all the key stakeholders, including the more transparent and proactive NAMA which the Minister for Finance will deliver. I will focus on a number of key actions which will ensure all parties deliver on their responsibilities and will restore confidence in our capacity to deal with unfinished housing developments and confidence in the very concept of a sustainable urban development.

Delivering new social housing is also a priority. As somebody who started off living in a council house, I know how important it is. Too many houses were for sale in some areas of the country. Social housing need, already at a record high back in 2008, is still rising. The funding of social housing has suffered significantly harsh treatment over the past number of budgets. As a matter of urgency, we must now develop new approaches to the funding and delivery of social housing. This will see a greater focus on delivering permanent new social housing stock while reducing long-term dependence on rent supplement.

I want to reinvigorate local authorities but I also want to see the voluntary and co-operative housing sector become a more equal partner. I recognise that if I, as Minister of State, am to demand more of the sector, I must provide it with the proper support framework. The proper regulation of the social housing sector as a whole will, therefore, be a key focus in the years ahead.

In regard to arrears, there are many households outside the social housing sphere which are barely hanging on to their homes which they have worked long and hard to buy and to keep. The Government will not stand by and see these young people and families thrown to the wolves of repossession. This Government will put in place credible, meaningful and compassionate measures to help families struggling every month to keep a roof over their heads. Our banking system depends on the State and the taxpayer for its very survival. This gives us considerable leverage on the banking system and we must not be coy about using that leverage where it is done with the public interest at heart.

The private rented sector also needs to be focused on. While the builders and the banks partied and peddled an obsession with home ownership, the private rented sector was left in the halfpenny place. We now see where the obsession with home ownership has left us. We now see what happens when buying a house becomes investment and yield rather than hearth and home. This Government must shift that focus. We will ensure mortgage lending is done prudently and soundly in the future. We will deliver choices across tenures and make the rented sector a stable and attractive housing option for all. As part of that, one of my immediate objectives will be to address the issue of the illegal retention of deposits by some landlords.

Long-term homelessness cannot be tolerated in the Ireland of today and it is our intention to end it. We cannot nor will we tolerate the need for anyone to sleep rough. The programme for Government sets out a range of new initiatives to be brought forward to alleviate homelessness where it has occurred and to prevent its further occurrence.

Significant issues arose at the heart of our banking system giving rise to legacy problems in the housing and planning sectors that are critical patients at the heart of our struggling economy. The patients include half built unwanted houses, completed but unsold houses, young families crippled by arrears and trapped by negative equity and a private rental sector that has been largely ignored in favour of a slavish devotion to home ownership at all costs. They are our enemies. Some of the medicine will be tough. Difficult decisions will need to be taken but I pledge to this House and beyond that those decisions will be taken fairly and in the best interests of the many and not the privileged few.

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