John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to speak about homelessness and the need for an increase in house building throughout the country. The Government has reigned over many inconsiderate moves in the past five years in this area and it has created a situation whereby many people, families and individuals, are now homeless.

The homelessness crisis is not about people living in hotels or on the streets alone. It is also about many families who have gone to live with their parents or taken over one bedroom in the family house. In some cases, they are staying in the sitting room during the night and sleeping on couches. This has become a problem not only in Dublin, but throughout the country.

We have a situation where banks are ordering people out of their homes because of an inability to pay and then selling off the houses at a cheap rate. I ask the Minister to consider if some situation could be arrived at whereby local authorities, through the Minister's intervention, would enter negotiations with banks which have houses for sale at a reduced price. The banks are taking these houses from ordinary families and selling them off to financial vultures at a reduced rate.

I can think of approximately 150 houses in Wexford at present that have been repossessed by the banks and which are for sale at a reasonable price. I believe the rate is probably the same throughout every constituency in the country. I estimate that between 2,000 and 3,000 houses have been repossessed by banks in the south east and are now up for sale. It is not an easy way, but it is a way of acquiring houses for local authorities. Money would be made available to purchase these houses and allocate them to families who may have been dumped out of their houses as well as to people on the housing lists.

Between 2011 and 2014, the Government built or acquired from the private sector 44 social housing units in Wexford. Last year, one social housing unit was built in the county. This compares to 559 units between 2007 and 2010 under Fianna Fáil. I remind the Minister of State that Gorey and Enniscorthy are to get eight houses each in 2016 while no houses are planned for the New Ross or Enniscorthy urban areas. That in itself says a good deal about the commitment of the Government to building social housing in Wexford.

Wexford always had a great record of building houses through the years. Various Governments made money available to the various local authorities, urban authorities and those in the county. Unfortunately, it has been static in recent years. We now have a situation where people are trying to find rental accommodation. In Wexford, and particularly in Gorey, a two-bedroom house costs €650 per month. The most a person can get on a rental subsidy in Wexford or Gorey town is €300 or €350 per month. There is no way the people concerned can make up the difference.

I have encountered cases in recent times of people who were paying €400 per month - I imagine all the politicians in Wexford know about the same cases - but all of a sudden the landlord decided to increase the rent to €650 per month. I realise a curtailment has been put on that for the coming years, but all of these landlords have taken the opportunity to increase the rent to a level such that people are unable to pay. It is important that we recognise the need to make moneys available.

The Minister has announced on a number of occasions that money has been allocated for Wexford and other councils throughout the country. I do not know whether the same money is being announced on each occasion, but there is no great movement to build houses in any local authority areas. Is that because there is no longer the wherewithal within the council structure to bring about a building programme? Is it the case that no money is being made available?

I understand 30,000 houses are being made available by the Government, but there is no flexibility. The Minister needs to have more flexibility in the renovation of houses because many houses that are ready to be repaired are locked up. Councils do not seem to have the funding or manpower to carry out such work. Perhaps it is time that small builders and developers were brought on board to bring houses up to a standard in which people can live. There is nothing as frustrating for people on the housing list as seeing houses boarded up in every urban area, leaving them with no opportunity to move into them.

No housing targets are being laid down. The Government seems to be making it up as it goes along. Mistakes may have been made in the past whereby decisions were made to provide most of the houses through voluntary housing or developers. Developers have told me that houses are for sale in urban areas for €90,000, €100,000 or €120,000. It will not pay them to build new houses while houses are available for sale at a reduced price.

It is important that the Minister of State recognises the difficulties faced by communities and people seeking to be rehoused in Wexford and every other constituency in the country. He should bring forward a fire brigade proposal to ensure local authorities become involved in building houses. There is a need and demand for housing. The time for talking is over. Now is the time for action. The Government will leave office next week or the week after. I do not know who will replace it, but whatever happens it is very important that building new houses and providing money for local authorities is the No. 1 priority to ensure the housing list is substantially reduced over the next five years. The Minister of State referred to 2020, 2021 and 2022. That is too far in the distance.

Before I conclude, I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his courtesy and kindness to me over the recent years since he took the job. I did not bother him too much. I do not bother Ministers too much either. I usually deal with ministerial staff because I always found one probably got far more action in terms of getting things done than one would with the hierarchy. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and the Acting Chairmen for their courtesy and kindness to me.

This is my 34th year in the House. It has been a long time. I have had eight successful general elections. I thank my family, organisation and the many people who helped me along the way. I wish all my colleagues on both sides of the House well. I have built up many friends across the political divide during my years in the House. I came in here during the Haughey era and am going out during the Kenny era. There have been some very contentious and very good times. I have enjoyed all of my years here, representing the people of Wexford.

I hope to spend the next month canvassing for my son, James. The Brownes have been here since 1951. I hope to see that continue. I wish every candidate well. The election is tough on candidates, but I often think it is even tougher for families who worry about the results of the election. I wish everyone every success. I hope most are re-elected and that Fianna Fáil will have a substantial number of Deputies.

See this speech in context