Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join with other speakers who spoke about the affordability package introduced by the Governor of the Central Bank this week. Like many others, we made a submission on that. We would like to acknowledge the climb-down on the 20% deposit requirement for first-time buyers but we were very disappointed that those who find themselves in a first home which has met their needs in the short term but would not suit their needs in the medium to long term have no mechanism available for them to avail of the same qualifying rules as that of a first-time buyer, when we believe, in terms of the family home and improving their situation, that that should have been catered for.

I heard the Governor say on a radio programme this morning that they had looked at many measures to try to address this issue, but it seemed that the numbers contained therein were not sufficient for him to make specific recommendations in that regard. Many people have contacted us in the meantime who find themselves in that very hole and do not see any mechanism by which they may be able to climb out of it.

I hope the regulator will commit, in the first instance, to a review of his proposals and their effectiveness for the Minister for Finance, who in turn could lay any such review on an annual basis before the House in order for recommendations to be made to improve the position, if improvements are necessary. We acknowledge the issues with regard to first-time buyers. We acknowledge the buy-to-let proposals, and we acknowledge the proposed loan-to-income ratio of three and a half times the household income, which is welcome.

The second issue is that of housing supply.

I will address it briefly because the Minister of State, Deputy Coffey, has responsibility for the provision of social housing. While I acknowledge the commitment expressed by the Government before Christmas to the plan it has initiated, it is unfortunate that it came almost four years into the Government's term. No effort was made to address the situation meaningfully before then, unfortunately. We note the various headlines within these proposals. We acknowledge the aspirations that underpin these policies and we look forward to their delivery. However, we have not yet received any specific proposals. Local authorities do not have at their disposal the exact mechanisms by which they could make the sort of inroads that we would like into the various housing lists. I know from speaking to representatives in my county in recent days that they have been informed by the Department that it is expected that approximately 420 units will be provided there between now and 2020. That is against the background of a waiting list of between 1,200 and 1,300 in the county in question. I expect that this list will increase annually, unfortunately. This level of provision does not represent the sort of inroads we would like to see.

I remind Deputy Regina Doherty that we have made proposals in this area. We have a responsibility to initiate proposals and put them to the Government for it to investigate, assimilate and digest. We hope it will respond to them. We have said for the past two years that a strategic investment fund should be used to launch a new round of home-building. We have said that voluntary housing associations should be developed to a scale at which they can access credit and start to build. We have asked the Government to introduce legislation to initiate a tenant purchase scheme for those in voluntary housing associations. Unfortunately, we have not seen such a scheme to date. We have said that the tenant purchase scheme and the fund derived from it should be retained by local authorities to be invested in addressing the deficiencies that exist in individual pockets. Many regions are not as well financed as others. That is particularly obvious now by virtue of the property tax.

I would like to speak about the problems with housing adaptation grants in my county of Offaly. As I have said previously, as far I am aware 70 people have been told by the local authority that they will have to wait for between three and five years for their applications to be processed because of the lack of funding being provided to it, in the first instance, and by association to the Department in funding it thereafter. On the basis of an average cost of approximately €15,000 a head, I suggest that if €1 million were provided, it would clear that list. In the absence of that being done, the State is obliged to maintain the fair deal scheme and provide hospital accommodation. As the State is not in a position to honour the commitment to provide community care facilities for such people, there is a variance of many multiples of the €1 million that would clear this list. We would like innovations of this nature to be attached to any policy that is coming forward. Local authorities should be given incentives and allowed to create incentives to ensure the funding they collect can be reused within their own areas. The inadequacies or gaps that exist in various regions have not been addressed in anything that has been proposed up to now.

I wish to add my voice to those of other speakers from my party who have looked at the immediacy of the rent cap problems. When we spoke about this issue towards the back end of last year, we said that a short-term measure was needed to alleviate the huge problems that exist for many families and people on waiting lists who, unfortunately, are not in a position to take advantage of the properties that are becoming available because of the rent cap that exists. In the years to come, the State, having incurred the expense of such a measure in the short term, would reap the rewards of the mechanisms initiated in the policy document and pursued by the Government. The expense of the planning and everything else that has to go with making housing units available would also be reimbursed as the benefit to society starts to accrue.

I commend the motion to the House. I ask all Members to support its contents and the thrust of it. If the Government fails to respond positively at this stage, perhaps it will at least address the whole housing area on a more regular basis. This matter should be considered at regular intervals to give the Government an opportunity to prove to the House how its ways and means in this regard are making inroads into these difficulties and highlight the progress that is being made.

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