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

I compliment my colleagues for tabling this motion and offering an opportunity for the issue to be debated. It is incumbent on the Government to put forward a special debate to address the crisis in this whole area.

I have listened attentively to what the Minister has to say. He talks about the legacy of under-supply, which is the number one priority. He wants to increase supply and does not want to go back to the boom and bust cycle. He says that demand outweighs supply and that he is committed to solving the housing issue. He is in the final months of a five-year term in government and the root cause is still Fianna Fáil.

The Minister is talking about seeking financially stable mechanisms to achieve success. He talks about the long-term 2020 strategy, which has been increased by one year today. The real reason for that is that there has been no progress this year at all. He has admitted to 493 new units this year, with 2,900 committed - I do not know whether there is permission for them or whether they are in the process of planning.

Towards the end of the Minister's speech he spoke about homelessness and the action that is necessary immediately. He stated he will examine any and all potential solutions and will "ensure that if changes to the planning and procurement procedures are required they will be made." This is something that should have been done long ago. He talks about rents and agrees that something should be done to create rent certainty. The Minister made that commitment last February and is making it again tonight with no action to back it up. He has made a commitment that he will do nothing on rent supplement, saying it is not in his remit. There is obvious disagreement between the Minister, Deputy Kelly, and his partners in coalition; it is not something that is going to be contemplated by his partners. The Government is, therefore, not going to risk going to the country too quickly when it needs longer to see if it can resurrect its fortunes and survive until next March.

All in all, to somebody looking for the real and effective solutions that are required at this time, that speech is nothing short of gobbledegook. In order for this debate to be real and meaningful and to have some effect or some prospect of solutions, the first thing the Minister needs to acknowledge, realise and admit is that all his policies, programmes and initiatives over the last five years have not worked. If they were working, would there be 130,000 applicants on the waiting lists throughout the country? The Minister has told the public there are 90,000 but we obtained figures recently that prove there are 130,000 applicants, which could well be 300,000 people.

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