Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would not want to have any inequality between Deputy Boyd Barrett and Deputy Healy. I answered this question last week. It is not possible to restore the Christmas bonus. It would cost €261 million and we do not have that money. It has been gone for a number of years and will not happen now. I listen to Deputy Boyd Barrett. I hear him. I listen to those organisations. The Minister of State with responsibility for housing and planning, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, is doing much work on the homeless and the housing situation. I expect her to report to a Cabinet committee in early January and I expect to engage with numbers of the voluntary organisations myself.

This is a serious issue. Nobody wants to see anybody on the streets. It is Government policy to eliminate homelessness in the next number of years. It is not easy to determine what social or family circumstances make this happen. I like to think we can have a social housing programme. There have always been some difficulties with some of the organisations. We used to have a system of council housing programs years ago. Some were very successful and some not.

In the Dublin area I do not accept that there is the explosion of a property bubble. This must be managed very carefully. The construction sector delivers only approximately 6% of GNP. That is much lower than most other European countries. I understand that in the greater Dublin area permission has been issued for approximately 15,000 to 20,000 houses but they are not built because a good and competent contractor needs to be financed to develop a site, build the houses and have a stream of income coming through. That is an issue. Many construction jobs for ordinary workers could be generated were that to be put in place.

The Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan is working on this in terms of social housing. NAMA was to make 4,000 units available, which has not been concluded yet. There is a program and a commitment to see if we can deal with homelessness effectively and end it. It is a very sad time of year for people and I commend all the organisations which work in this area. At this morning's Cabinet meeting the Government approved substantial allocations to a number of voluntary agencies, such as the society of St. Vincent de Paul, which work with people who are, for one reason or another, underprivileged or caught out. I do not accept that we are facing a housing bubble as we had before. There is a shortage of housing. We need to build 20,000 to 25,000 houses per year. I know a number of smaller competent contractors who in the spring will start building numbers of units for which they have got permission and financial arrangements. I welcome that.

We have an interest in rent allowance and the new situation that will apply. This is part of the incentive of the reform of the social welfare system so that somebody who gets a job would not automatically lose his or her rent allowance. A transition system will be put in place. This is important to allow people to take up a job without losing all their benefits. This is an issue between the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Department of Social Protection.

There are complications in regard to access to information which I am trying to sort out. I expect to have a report on the issue early in January and hope we can move towards making it a reality in order that more people will see there is an opportunity for them to find work and take up a job without losing all of the rent allowance automatically. They will see a transition system put in place. The issue is slightly more complicated than people might have thought in the beginning, but I assure the Deputy I am working on it. I listen to the Deputy and others, as well as to the organisations. I will deal with the issue with the Minister early in the new year and hope to engage with a number of voluntary organisations. I hope in the broader sense that we will return to a programme, limited though it must be because of the financial arrangements required, that will start to deal with the problem.

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