Anthony Lawlor (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the innovative measure that has been put forward this evening. Such innovative measures, however small, send a signal that the Government is trying to assist young people who are looking to purchase their own housing. I am probably being very repetitive about the issue of housing because I keep going back to when I served in a local authority in 2000. I was the only member of the local authority who opposed Part V of the Planning and Development Act. Part V was a sop to Fianna Fáil's friendly developers. It allowed, supposedly, 20% of a development to be designated for social and affordable housing. Of course, people did not think there would ever be a crash. They thought the party was going to continue forever. When the crash came, no social houses were being delivered. What happened was that Fianna Fáil allowed local authorities to renege on their social duty to provide social housing unless it involved their developer friends. I am still totally opposed to Part V. At the time, Kildare County Council was acquiring 20% of any land that was being put forward for zoning. We were acquiring it so that the local authority would have a land bank on which to build houses, schools, playgrounds and amenities. That was a positive step. Unfortunately, the Minister of the day, Noel Dempsey, decided in his wisdom that this was not right, that local authorities should not be in the game of providing these facilities and that central government was the best way to do it. We see the consequences of that with all the people on the housing waiting lists at the moment.

There is a degree of scaremongering with regard to the consultative process proposed by the Central Bank, and the message probably has not been clearly stated. Most commentators are talking about a 20% deposit being required. To my mind, a requirement for a deposit of 20% should be used when there is overheating of the housing market. We do not have that overheating; we have a complete supply-side deficit, which is resulting in the current situation. I hope a message will go out that it is for public consultation and discussion and that the public should make its submissions. I will be making a submission on that.

I welcome the proposal to allocate €2.2 billion over the next three years to local authorities or housing agencies to build houses. I have said a number of times that the Department should consult with and write to local authorities to get them to become more proactive in getting their land banks ready through the Part 8 process, so that when funding is allocated to them they can actually start building houses. Many local authorities with greenfield sites are waiting for money to be allocated before they go through the process. We all know that the process can take a considerable period of time. I encourage the Minister to ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to write to local authorities to get them to be proactive in getting their greenfield sites shovel-ready so that when the funding comes for the building of houses, it can be in place. I welcome this innovative measure. It will send a signal that we will try to help young first-time buyers in whatever way we can.

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