Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be one of those proposing the motion. I very much welcome the opportunity to talk on the growing housing and homelessness crisis. The motion recognises that we are dealing with a crisis and provides real solutions. I was disappointed when I read the Government's amendment, because it was not really an amendment. It did not try to amend a very sensible proposal but began by deleting the Technical Group's entire proposal, which was very disappointing.

In particular, I note the Government's amendment did not recognise the scale of the problem. If one read the Government's motion, one might see much activity but there would be no indication that we are dealing with an escalating crisis and this is not business as usual. There is a call for a report from the Private Residential Tenancies Board to consider difficulties faced by tenants but I suggest that in year four of this Government, the calling for reports to consider these matters is really disappointing. Most worryingly, the Government amendment indicates that the most appropriate way to deal with the crisis is "to continue the various programmes and fiscal incentives currently in place". The Government is arguing that its response to an escalating and real crisis all over the country is to continue with the existing programmes, which is bonkers. It is absolute madness and very disappointing to see.

I will broaden the conversation, and there has been much worthwhile conversation around various people at risk. I will discuss four groups, including those with distressed mortgages, the negative equity generation, renters and those trying to rent, and the homeless or those at risk of homelessness. Many other Deputies and I spend much time on the issue of distressed mortgages, and it is clear at this point that the Government has failed to deal with that crisis. I have dealt with the matter every day for the past three years and I can categorically say the Government has failed in dealing with it. Comparing the number of distressed mortgages in Ireland with any other country, including Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain - the countries which have dealt with the same issues we have - it is several times higher than what is evident in those countries. Ireland is completely on its own in its failure to deal with this.

Representatives of the banks came before the finance committee recently to tell us how they were getting on and the experience was quite shocking. There was extraordinary inconsistency between how banks treated people; if a person is in a bad situation with one bank, he or she could get out of it okay but if he or she is with another bank, there is no hope. The Governor of the Central Bank yesterday indicated he was okay with that approach, as it allowed banks the freedom they need, which is very disappointing. Of 57,000 offers made to date of so-called sustainable restructuring, at least 52,000 do not include any financial concession, and the majority of so-called sustainable restructures are either a letter threatening to repossess the house or an offer to restructure the mortgage in such a way that a family would end up paying the bank more over the life of the mortgage.

The banks have told us they expect thousands of evictions, with my calculation amounting to 7,500 just from the four banks whose representatives we met. We know the banks are vetoing the insolvency process in a way that is explicitly contrary to the Government's intention. On top of this is the disgraceful handling by this Government of those thousands of men, women and children in houses mortgaged to Irish Nationwide. The manner in which that was dealt with is a dark stain on this Government.

This Government indicated it would help the negative equity generation. Instead, it is charging tax on properties in negative equity, so essentially they are being taxed on their debts. That is extraordinary, despite us being told this is a proxy for wealth tax. Accidental landlords first had to deal with double taxation and in the last budget, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, had the idea of charging PRSI on rental income, which is absolutely destroying these people.

What about renters and those people trying to rent? They have two problems. In many parts of the country, including Wicklow, there is nowhere to rent, and if a person is lucky enough to find somewhere to rent, he or she has no rights. I live in a rented house with two young kids and another one on the way, please God. Every year I could get a phone call from a landlord telling me I must leave, along with my kids, and leave my neighbours and friends. It is not the landlord's problem that I would have to find somewhere else or have a longer commute to school. It is not okay for renters to be treated like that, and how in the name of God is anybody meant to raise their family or children when they can get a phone call asking them to leave an estate, their neighbours and friends. That can happen every year.

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