Dáil debates

Wednesday, 30 September 2015

Social Housing Policy: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]

 

6:25 pm

Photo of Pádraig Mac LochlainnPádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

What makes me angry is being told by people who have lived in this city all of their lives that when they walk around the city centre and see all the shop fronts full of people sleeping, in the pouring rain and freezing cold, that it is the worst they have ever seen - the worst in their lives. What makes me angry is that we paid huge amounts of money to developers for turn-key housing at the top of the market, and although the Minister's Government inherited an opportunity to get a very good deal for the taxpayer by purchasing blocks of housing at the bottom of the market, it sat on its hands and let the opportunity pass.

What makes me angry is the fact that there are people working in this city earning a decent wage who cannot afford to pay their rent because rents are going through the roof. It makes me angry that the Minister, who is deputy leader of the Labour Party and sitting in a Chamber with a statue of James Connolly, cannot find it in his heart to take on the vested interests who put up rents in the city and all across the State. I am angry that he cannot confront greed and defend young people and young families who need to put a roof over their heads. I cannot understand how this crisis continues year after year. I have come to the view that it is now a policy, a decision of the Government to leave the market to itself while talking about capital plans and five-year investments. In reality, there is very little more on the table than would have been on it in the first place.

What is the Minister going to do about it? What is his strategy? What is the Government to do for my county, where almost 200 council houses and a very significant number of private sector houses are empty? There are almost 3,000 on the housing list. They are ordinary people. Sometimes the best wisdom is derived from speaking to everyday people. They ask me how there can be so many empty houses across County Donegal. They ask why the Government does not pull the banks and NAMA together and why there is no strategy to ensure the houses are accessed and that people will have a chance to have a roof over their heads. Why can the Government not ensure that people pay a reasonable rent reflecting what they earn in this city and across the State? How come the Government allocates the housing assistance payment or rent supplement at a level that means people have to find hundreds of extra euro to pay their rent? One will never get a house for the amount of money the Government allocates to people. It tells people it has given them housing assistance and rent supplement and is doing all of that but the reality, which the Minister knows, is that in any town or city across the State, the amount of money allocated does not reflect the rental values. If one goes to the local estate agent to find a property, one will need to pay hundreds of euro more than one is receiving if one is to rent it.

I say to "Angry Alan" that it is time to really find the right people to get angry with. It is time to have a strategy. It is time to go back to what his party is supposed to be about. He has only got a few months to save his bacon. I wish him all the best.

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