Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

First of all, it is utterly outrageous that we have only a short time to discuss this emergency matter. It is absolutely disgraceful.

Second, this is yet another false dawn from the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, when it comes to social housing. It is a PR stunt and a misguided, madcap plan. The Minister of State is issuing a directive to tell councils something they already know. All he needed to do was phone them up, not that they even needed that to know the legislation that is there. The real issue is whether the Minister of State will give local authorities funds, resources and staff to produce the Part 8 schemes and build council houses directly.

By the way, we do not need to get rid of Part 8 public consultation in order to do that. Part 8 schemes are not the problem. The problem is the flipping tendering process, which is outsourced to the private sector, so that it takes six months or a year, where previously there were direct-build schemes whereby the council employed people directly to build council houses. We do not need to override proper planning in order to achieve that.

I have thought long and hard about modular housing, because anything that will make a difference is worth doing. I have come to the firm view, however, that this is a mad mistake. Today on myhome.iethere are 781 houses for sale in Dublin for less than €200,000. The Minister of State is proposing 500 temporary modular units, which are not houses, at €190,000 each. Should we buy 500 permanent, real existing houses that people could be in by Christmas, or spend the same amount of money on these crazy modular units, which effectively are Portakabins? That is a direct choice for the Government. We should spend that money on buying those houses that are for sale on myhome.ie. They are permanent houses that would be suitable for children, and it would provide the required social mix.

In addition, the Government should immediately grab hold of NAMA and open its books, because we want to see what it has. It is absolutely outrageous that NAMA is selling property at below market rates, which would be cheaper than these flipping modular houses and which could accommodate people not in three weeks or six months but immediately. They are physically there now. The Government could do that as an emergency measure. In addition, can we have the resources and funds for Part 8 schemes to deliver a minimum of 10,000 council houses per year? That is a medium-term matter, but it has to start now.

See this speech in context