John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A consensus emerged among Members across all parties who contributed earlier that it would be useful to have a Minister for housing, and I concur with that. Flowing from that, one would hope there would be an all-party Oireachtas committee on housing. It would be great to put that infrastructure in place, but the project for that Minister and committee would be to adopt an all-party national housing strategy which would go beyond the lifetime of this Dáil. We need a clear road and a clear direction in order that we do not end up in a tit-for-tat with people saying, "You did this on your watch" or "We did that", and so forth. There should be a much better defined approach for the future. That would serve the House well and, in particular, the people who elected us.

I would like our housing crisis to be acknowledged as a housing emergency, not because it is a play on words but because it would lend an urgency to the response that is required. Sometimes, looking on at these debates, the lack of urgency is notable. That urgency requires both short-term and long-term measures. There has been a great deal of comment on landbanks and construction and so forth, but before we even go there, we need to consider the position of those who are at risk of becoming homeless or who are losing their homes today. The Minister for Social Protection referred to rent supplement. Both I, as a person who deals with constituents, and the charities that deal with homelessness do not believe rent supplement is working as it should and that it is one of the causes of the emergency. Other issues revolve around receivers being appointed by banks, who are largely unregulated. A number of short-term measures need to be dealt with promptly.

I support the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government regarding one comment he made. He referred to the constitutional challenges in respect of housing. It is time there was a rebalancing of the Constitution in the context of property rights and so forth. We should, as an Oireachtas, consider a proper wording to bring to the people on a right to housing.

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