Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 25 states:

In page 54, between lines 22 and 23, to insert the following:"(4) The Living City initiative should include the following cities and town— Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, Waterford and Bray.".

Deputy Pearse Doherty referred to amendment No. 24. I believe this is a positive initiative and I would be supportive of the concept. The principle is to revitalise certain parts of cities and, hopefully, a town, that will be designated for the future.

I do not agree with Deputy Pearse Doherty's amendment because it limits the possibility that this policy will achieve change. It is not to assist the developers but to revitalise towns. We all will be aware that there are large tracts of the cities of Dublin, Cork, Limerick or wherever where many of the buildings are converted pre-1963 into a multiplicity of units, many of which are fire hazards or are of a poor standard. I believe that the initiative can be positive.

What is the status of the scheme outlined in the Finance Act 2013 for Georgian houses in Waterford and Limerick? It is important that this, as a pilot scheme, is monitored.

We can get a little confused. When we talk about the economic collapse, we always talk about the property bubble. There was not a property bubble. It was a money bubble. There were many decisions made. There is the disposal of newspaper groups, bank shares and land. Many items other than residential property were purchased for quite crazy figures. Companies exchanged hands. It is important to realise that it is possible to provide incentives for residential property without causing a difficulty with regard to the price.

We in the Reform Alliance have come up with a concept, which we will be forwarding to the Minister for Finance, called, "a fair value". This is to try to establish a co-relation between the average income and the average house price - the average house price as a multiple of the average income - and to use this as some sort of measuring tool with respect to lending to ensure that there is no irresponsible lending in the future and financial institutions lend in a responsible manner. It is a progressive policy and I sincerely hope the Minister will take it on board. We will be distributing it to the various stakeholders over the next couple of weeks. It is simple. It is in addition to the standard percentage of disposable income or the two and a half times the income of the principal earner in a couple plus one time the other income that financial institutions would apply.

My amendment No. 25 is simple. It may appear narrow. It shows up a greater fault in how we make policy here. I lived in Galway and Kilkenny and both of those towns are listed in the initiative. I have sought to add Bray to it because, by any independent objective analysis, the numbers of properties in Bray that would benefit from this are far greater than the numbers of such properties in Galway or Kilkenny.

In Galway city there are old properties in the area called The Crescent and in Eyre Square and Taylor's Hill that need to be revitalised. In Kilkenny city the old properties are in a limited area around the core of the town off High Street and Patrick Street and an upper part known as the Lacken area that looks down on the lower area of the city. In Bray there is a large area stretching from the Main Street heading east down towards the seafront, through Meath Road, Sidmonton Road and Florence Road, where a large number of properties are in multiple units and many of them are old buildings in a very poor state of repair. If one was to base the criteria for inclusion purely on economic and social analysis and the potential to improve a town, I believe that Bray should be included at least before those two cities I mentioned although I am not so sure in that respect in the case of the larger cities. I raised this issue with the Minister on Committee Stage and indicated my intention to table an amendment on Report Stage. He indicated at the time that he would give consideration to including Bray at some time in the future but not now, but I hope he has seen fit to change his mind. Bray's inclusion in this initiative would be a positive move for the town as it needs an incentive.

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