Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this substantial Bill.

I am galled by the Opposition jumping up and down, if not in here, on television, about a housing crisis and homelessness. One would think that for the past 15 years there was no one else in charge of the country who did not take on the responsibility they should have taken on to deal with housing, particularly social housing, when there was plenty of money flowing like honey out of every Department.

I commend the work done by the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, on providing €15 million funding for putting 500 vacant local authority housing units back into the system. Over the next two years, €68 million will go a long way in this area. I also welcome the €35 million housing investment for people with a disability, who are homeless or elderly, the €30 million spend this year to upgrade the energy efficiency of the least well-insulated local authority homes and the €10 million kick-start for unfinished housing developments. This Bill is a step in the right direction and addresses some of the crises in social housing provision.

The three important elements of this Bill are the provision of legislation based on the new HAP, the introduction of a new tenancy purchase scheme for local authority tenants and the reform of the process of determination of local authority tenants. The current rent supplement system in place has not worked to the advantage of its recipients. Some of the properties people on rent allowance have been asked to live in are appalling, undesirable and not fit for renting. There was no way of properly vetting these properties with no inspections. I believe HAP, where the local authority will pay landlords directly, will secure appropriate accommodation in the private rented sector. Under HAP, unemployed people will be able to take up employment and not be penalised by losing rent supplement. That is important for those trying to get back into the workplace as it will help them when it is not possible to pay rent from their own pocket when starting back in work. Will the Minister flesh out how this payment will work in more detail?

I have waited for the tenant purchase scheme for a long time and I am delighted it will be re-introduced. There are many local authority tenants who would love to buy their local authority property and, hopefully, this scheme will open up the opportunity for them. One area the Bill does not address is flat complexes, however. It refers to social housing and apartments but not flat complexes. Does the term "apartment" cover flat complexes? In the area I represent there are many flat complexes such as Dolphin House, Braithwaite Street, School Street and Oliver Bond Street. When I visit these complexes, I am always taken aback by the shining letter boxes on the doors and the lovely smell of washing on the balcony rails. There are often three generations of families living in these complexes but they have never had the opportunity to buy their flats. This is a flaw we need to examine.

In 1976, my father bought our local authority house for £3,500. I know people who live in Tyrone Place, Islandbridge Court, Braithwaite Street and Dolphin House who are still paying exorbitant rents to the local authority. Many of these tenants have paid over €200,000 in rent over 50 years. It is an awful indictment to think that these tenants could have bought their own homes with what they have spent on local authority rents over the years. I am constantly asking Dublin City Council as to why people in flat complexes cannot be allowed buy their own property. I get the same old story all the time, mainly that everyone will not be able to afford to do so and there would be difficulties with management fees. All of these issues can be easily solved. Will the Minister of State make an effort in resolving this issue with the city councils? I know a lady who has lived in the social housing complex in Ash Grove in Dublin’s inner city for the past 30 years.

Houses in the same complex have been bought - there are six houses in it. She lives in what is known as a maisonette where she reared her family, who all are working and contributing to society. She will not move, she said, because that is where she came from and that is where her roots are. After so many years, she is still paying rent to the local authority. She could have bought the place out three or four times, but she did not want to because she stayed there, her family are there and her children are around her. Such cases need to be looked at.

In the 1970s, and probably before that, we built large estates. We built Ballymun, St. Michael's and other estates, but the problem with many of them was there was not any facilities around them. I remember going out to Ballymun when I was very young looking at the flat complex being built and I was appalled to think there was not even a shop at the time. Of course, Ballymun is gone now, and so is St. Michael's Estate. Commentators blame those who lived in those complexes for what happened to them. I do not. I blame the local authority. The local authority failed its tenants in St. Michael's Estate and Ballymun to keep a normal kind of a society. When St. Michael's Estate was opened 49 years ago, there was a caretaker in each block. The balconies and staircases were washed down every day. There were proper facilities, such as gardening facilities, put in. There were caretakers cutting the grass etc. That was all abandoned and tenants were left to struggle following the 1980s, when many of the leaders moved out of the communities because they got a grant. Tenants were left to struggle to live in appalling conditions.

In the past couple of weeks, I have been toddling through the inner city, going into Braithwaite Street and School Street, and Oliver Bond. It would do us all good to go and walk up and down the stairs in those complexes today and see the appalling state that tenants are living in, with no proper facilities and playgrounds one would have serious problems bringing a child to. If not for the tenants cleaning their own balconies and painting their own walls, they would not be able to live in half of these places. These are appalling places to live in.

I am devastated at this stage that the city council has not got its act together to be able to give tenants a proper place to live. It is no wonder most of the tenants living in them are in rent arrears. If the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, or I were living in the conditions half of them are living in, we would not pay any rent. That is a terrible indictment on the local authorities to allow tenants to continue living in these complexes.

It is probably near the end of my time.

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