Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

While I welcome this measure in principle, I shake my head in despair over the lack of resources and the Government's lack of focus on the housing crisis, which is an unmitigated disaster. We are talking about a humanitarian crisis facing people. Last Friday, I got a phone call from a family who are on the streets and have nowhere to go because the council offices were closed. People are living in tents, cars or are couch-hopping from one relative to another. Some 89,000 people are on the housing waiting list, which is incredible. I am amazed that while the Government talks about a bright new dawn, a new recovery and turning the corner, it focuses so few resources on such a massive humanitarian crisis.

The Tánaiste is one of the major contributors to this crisis because she has capped rent supplement throughout the State. This has forced people to put their hands in their pockets and find other resources to bridge the gap or they will find themselves homeless. It does not make sense that rent supplement is divorced from rents. If the two are not matched, how are people expected to pay for accommodation? It is unbelievable.

Capital expenditure in the budget will create 2,000 new social houses. At that rate of construction, with 89,000 people on the housing waiting list, it will take over 40 years to deal with it. In Meath alone, there are 4,500 people on the housing waiting list. After two and half years, the budget may deal with housing in only one of the Twenty-six Counties in the State. This budget provides for a €210-million increase in capital investment, which is less than 10%. It will provide an additional 1,500 new jobs. This is the so-called stimulus the Government meant during the fiscal treaty and the last local and general elections when it festooned lampposts with the word "jobs". At this pivotal juncture of turning the economy, however, we have only the promise of 1,500 jobs from increased capital investment.

Lack of social housing construction is one of the major problems causing the numbers seeking accommodation to balloon.

The Government has not used mechanisms that are at its disposal. It could, for example, use invest in different special vehicles which would be able to leverage the money and create far more housing for its buck. Cluid and other social housing organisations receive about 30% of their investment from the State and seek loans for the rest of the money. For every euro they receive they can invest €3 or €4 in houses, but this has not happened here.

One of the major problems in housing provision is the supply side. It is not being properly dealt with. One of the major breaks on the supply side is the same which pertains to enterprise in the State. That is because the banks will not provide the necessary funding for developers to be able to purchase the land and build the houses. Deputy Kelleher rightly spoke about the exorbitant interest rates, but the sad fact is that if one solved the interest rate crisis without solving the supply side crisis it would lead to further housing inflation. The supply side crisis has to be resolved before house prices and rents are reduced.

The idea that the windfall tax will be reduced to, I understand, 33% which is lower than the upper rate of tax makes no sense. It should be the same. Last year we saw a dramatic rise in DIRT to 40%, from 33%. This resolution shows that was not thought through with regard to young people who are trying to get onto the property ladder.

The answer to the crisis is not this dismal proposal. Rather, it is the State taking responsibility for social housing and resolving the problems on the supply side in the private housing sector. Until those two significant issues are dealt with we will see more people telephoning Deputies at 5.30 p.m. on a Friday looking for somewhere to live. People are living in cars and are bed-hopping. Until there is a match between the rent supplement provided by the State and the actual market price we will still see people forced out of their homes.

See this speech in context