Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have an opportunity to contribute to the debate and I agree entirely with the previous speakers. Deputy Wallace stated a great surplus of more than 300,000 houses was built in the wrong place and as a result the construction industry collapsed and, as Deputy Wallace well knows, most of the developers went into debt and into NAMA. This was the situation the Labour Party inherited when it came into government. I agree entirely with Deputies Daly and Pringle that the State has an onus to provide social housing, and very often local authorities are the vehicle which should do so. For this reason I am delighted Sinn Féin has tabled the motion and I applaud Deputy Ellis for doing so. However, the most recent action by the Sinn Féin councillors on Dublin City Council was to reduce the property charge by 15% and remove €12.3 million from the budget which could well have been used as a stimulus to provide services, particularly housing services given the degree of homelessness and the housing need which exists. Effectively this will put money into the hands of wealthy homeowners, such as people in Dalkey in houses worth €700,000 who will have their bills reduced by €200, while somebody in my constituency, in Cabra or the inner-city where houses are worth €150,000, will see a reduction of less than €35. Perhaps this is the new meaning of a wealth tax, whereby money goes back to the wealthy rather than to the less well off and more vulnerable. Perhaps this could have been examined and a good example could have been set by the councillors to ensure the money was used to good advantage in providing local services. The democratic purpose of the local authority could have been enhanced.

I disagree with the policy articulated by Deputy Ellis on prefabs whereby he indicated Sinn Féin is in favour of constructing prefabs throughout the city.

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