Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity for a quick few words on this subject. Many subjects have been covered in this debate on housing. It is an issue we have all watched grow, and not to our satisfaction, over the past 20 years and it is more than 20 years since a decision was made to shift sole responsibility for providing local authority housing away from local authorities and towards the private sector. It was construed at the time that the private sector would provide housing and the public would rely on renting accommodation in the future. They were, of course, wrong about that.

People said we would become like continental people and would no longer need to purchase our houses. They were wrong about that as well. If one seeks proof of that, it is a simple matter to compare the cost of rents and mortgages at any time. Even at present many people have mortgage repayments that are considerably less than the cost of renting. The logic behind that was wrong and I recall protesting loudly at the time, but it did not make a difference. There were those who thought they knew better. I do not know what they think now but they failed and, unfortunately, we have inherited a very sad legacy as a result of their ridiculous failure.

I am strongly supportive of a return to direct build by the local authorities as a first option. It is the only reliable way to ensure there is an adequate supply of houses for people who are not currently in a position, although they might be in the future, to build or buy their own houses. It will solve that problem for a start. There is another group of people. The irony is that 20 years ago many people could get a local authority loan if they were on a lower income than would give them an entitlement to get a loan from a building society. It was extremely satisfactory. That is gone now. It is impossible to qualify for such loans. I recall that during the boom I tried to encourage people to buy houses at that time, knowing what was coming down the tracks, but it was almost impossible to get anybody to qualify. On the one hand they were above the qualification limits in terms of income for a local authority house, but at the same time they were below the limit for qualification for a loan. Whoever thought up that must have been a genius. He or she must have gone home at night and thought: "Nobody can qualify for that, so we are dead safe and sound. Nothing is ever going to happen."

Next, we must recognise that we are in a housing emergency. Regardless of how the houses can be provided, they must be provided as a matter of urgency. I do not have the same reservations about modular housing that many others have expressed. It is as if we are reluctant to solve the problem. We must do whatever must be done to solve the problem. We cannot allow a situation in which people have no roof over their heads. That is what is facing many people at present. Reference has been made to the homelessness problem. In a housing scarcity the people who do not own a home are in the hands of somebody else, whoever that might be. They find themselves squeezed to such an extent that they become desperate. Many people at present have found themselves sleeping in cars and in various other places in order to accommodate themselves on a temporary basis. It is appalling. Incidentally, I am aware that several Members of this House dealt with homelessness during the boom. It existed then, so it had to get worse and it has got worse.

There has been much talk about flooding. It is correct to state that it affects housing and that we are experiencing climate change. There are 100 year event floods every five or seven years. However, we should not forget one thing which Deputy Fitzmaurice raised today and which has been raised by several other speakers in this debate. The rivers and waterways of the country cannot continue indefinitely without de-silting. That cannot happen and it will not work. Irrigation does not work that way. There is a requirement to have ongoing servicing of waterways. If that does not happen, there will be floods.

County Kildare had a sad problem with large scale flooding in 2010, particularly in Sallins. I recall that the retort of the Minister with responsibility for the environment at the time was that it was not called The Waterways for nothing. That was the typical reaction of people who should know more than they profess to know. The reason it was called The Waterways was that it was next door to a facility owned by Waterways Ireland, the canal. The only thing that was wrong is that nobody had thought of the drainage during its construction. There was a 40 foot drop or outfall, so the entire area flooded. That is the stupidity of things that can happen right in front of our noses. We should not have to deal with those things. That are certain rules and parameters that govern these matters and that should be sufficient.

I regularly hear that the number of people on the housing list is being updated and counted again. I am on the record of the House as objecting to that principle for the past 30 years, at least. If proper records are kept, there is no need to update them. One ticks people off as they get accommodation or move on. It is a simple way to do it. With modern computerisation it should be even more simple. It really irritates me when I hear that they must be checked again to see if the people are really in need of housing. We must cop on to ourselves. The fact is that if somebody has been waiting seven or eight years on a housing list but has received nothing and suddenly finds that the landlord wishes to move him or her out of the current house or that the landlord's house is being repossessed by a financial institution, it is poor comfort for me to say to that person: "Well, actually, we want to count you again, just to make sure you really are in need of housing."

Every year for the past 15 years I have been pointing out what was going to happen with regard to the housing crisis we have at present. I spoke to all of the voluntary agencies that were willing to listen and I tried to make my point. I am just one person but I am sure all other Members were doing the same. Why did nobody listen? I cannot understand why nobody listened to the fact that a housing crisis was coming down the track. Why was that? There was no competition in the marketplace and nobody was providing houses for a large sector of the population, who would be neglected. There was a pretence that they were going to be accommodated in a fluctuating market by the private sector when, at the same time, that private sector was subject to fluctuations in production. At this point, one cannot do justice to the subject but if the Minister and the officials wish to discuss it privately with me, I will be more than happy to do so.

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