Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like everybody else, I believe the moves the Minister made last week must be welcomed. It is a step in the right direction. There was a lot of focus on homelessness last week. For some people, having ten or 20 houses would not solve the underlying problem. Having experienced somebody belonging to me coming through a situation like this, I know that the underlying problems that must be addressed. There is a general acceptance in this country of a drinking culture. When one tries to help someone, barriers are put in front of one every way one tries to do it. I am firm believer that when somebody has a genuine problem that needs to be addressed and if two or three doctors are prepared to put it on the line that there is a major problem, we must take action. I am a firm believer that people must be put on courses whether they like it or not. They talk about skid row and I understand all that but if we do not start to address that problem, there will be more of what happened last week. I know civil liberties groups will say that people are entitled to this, that and the other but sometimes in the best interests of a person, one needs to be cruel to be kind.

There are 80,000 people looking for houses. If one looks at people in arrears, one can see that there are approximately 37,000 more. Last week in the west of Ireland, 380 letters went out for repossession orders. We can bury our heads in the sand as long as we want but the reality is that another 20,000 people are about to lose their homes in the next three to six months. If there is no initiative from the Government to resolve this, those 80,000 people waiting on the housing list will basically become homeless again. There is an old saying down the country and I am sure the Minister often heard it - "when poverty comes in the door, love goes out the window". One then has rows, people going to pubs and family break-ups.

A proposal about which I have been thinking in the past few weeks is that we need to do something for the 20,000 people and indeed all people in mortgage distress. We need to look outside the box and bring something in that will give them a 30, 40 or possibly 50-year mortgage. I have seen in my own area how people were evicted from their property and the State has paid for the past five years. These people are within €7,000 of what that house made but somebody else owns it. I know the Minister is making moves to resolve the social housing problem but given the land banks that exist, we need to tie in a certain price at which houses are built for the simple reason that people around the country need houses they can afford.

There are also situations where councils or housing agencies do not know who is to buy the house. We have seen scenarios where one will start bidding against the other. Clear direction needs to be given in the next few months to start tackling this problem, particularly from the beginning of next year. There is no point in having drawings and planning permission and then waiting for the following year. We need to give people in the different councils around the country the scope and basically the go-ahead to get planning permission ready and get everything in place to make sure we avert a bigger crisis coming down the tracks.

See this speech in context