Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful for the opportunity to say a few words in the debate. I did not get a chance to listen to all speakers, but in terms of process, the idea today was to have statements and put forth everyone's ideas as a contribution to the debate. The Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, has been working hard in this area for the past couple of years and has managed, with the help of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, and others, to ring-fence a pot of money of approximately €4 billion to tackle this issue, yet no one seems to acknowledge this. I wish we had had that €4 billion three or five years ago, but we did not. However, we now know that there is a pot of money of €4 billion, depending on whether whoever is in government wants to increase it, to work with and spend on solutions. Nevertheless - I accept that I did not hear all of the speeches - Deputy Barry Cowen seems to forget that the election is over. He came into the House ranting and raving rather than trying to calmly tease through ideas and solutions on which we could all work. That is what we are trying to do. On this side we accept that we did not get everything perfectly right. There would be no problem if we did. That is acknowledged by having this debate and in setting aside a sum of €4 billion. We know that there is a problem and we want to fix it. We have put forward various strategies that we think will help a great deal, including the social housing strategy and Construction 2020. They are strategies we believe have been worked out and will help. They might need to be fast-tracked or people might want to add to them, but they are strategies that are in place and already making some difference, albeit not enough and not quickly enough.

As the Minister says, the problem cannot be fixed overnight. There is no silver bullet. I have not heard here all of the solutions or of a silver bullet either. Everyone seems to agree that in terms of process, if today is taken as stage 1, the next stage after the Ceann Comhairle's committee meets tomorrow should be establishing a committee of the House on housing to match a potential housing Minister, depending on who is in government. Most people seem to agree with the concept of having a housing Minister with a particular brief to focus on this issue for a couple of years. A cross-party committee on housing could tease through all of ideas expressed today, good, bad or indifferent, and those expressed outside the House. Let us go through them to see which ones are realistic and those which cannot be implemented. In fairness, the Minister has said some of the ideas sound lovely, but they may not be capable of implementation. If it was possible to implement them, we might have tried them in the past. It may be that a cross-party committee could adopt the right tone and spirit. I have seen committees working very well, as Deputy Seán Crowe can attest. Let us tease through everyone's ideas and submit them to the next process which I hope will be a new Government with a dedicated Minister in a couple of weeks time or one month or however long it takes.

The Taoiseach outlined the Action Plan for Jobs process, at which most people laughed when it was first suggested in 2011 and which they said could not work. However, it did work because every Minister and Department bought into and contributed to it. The same logical approach can work in any Department. Certainly, it can work in tackling the housing crisis. I have been in other countries in Europe in the past year and a half where people have asked about the Action Plan for Jobs process and sought to copy it. We should use the same process in other Departments. Housing is an ideal issue to be addressed in this way. It involves a whole-of-government and an all-party approach to which everyone can contribute. For those who do not know, the Action Plan for Jobs process involved the carrying out of 300 or 400 actions every year to create jobs. The actions were set out, names were put beside them, a budget was provided and they had to happen. That is the only way we will tackle the housing crisis and all of us here can contribute. Everyone had a chance to contribute to the Action Plan for Jobs and add to it. Committees submitted ideas which were included. Deputy David Cullinane contributed reports that were included. Everyone contributed and it could be the same in this case. Today is stage 1. I hope we can soon establish a committee to take on the problems and subsequently have a Minister to drive progress. People must accept that there has been action and that there has been change here. Money has been set aside. There is no point denying this and we must now work with it.

A blanket rent supplement increase is not going to work. I have seen it. I come from an area of County Meath in which it is needed, but it will not achieve the result people believe it will. The case-by-case approach being taken is working, but many people do not know that it is available. As always, Deputies have a job to do to get the word out that if a person is receipt of rent supplement and under pressure to pay an increased rent, he or she should come and talk to the authorities to see if a change can be negotiated before it is too late. Some people have left their houses before coming to us, which is too late. We need to get the word out.

We also need to take a serious look at the system of social housing delivery. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government has started a new pilot scheme which is similar to the one we have in education which involves a devolved grant. It allows local authorities to take a pot of money to deliver houses under a certain level. The pilot scheme should be enhanced and rolled out to a greater extent as it will help to drive and fast-track the delivery of housing. It should not take 18 to 24 months from the Department signing off on an amount of money for it to be spent. We need to find ways to fast-track the process.

These are some ideas. Everybody has ideas and the next process involves a committee to implement them. Deputies should note that the election is over and that it is now time work on what we can. It will only happen if there is a cross-party approach.

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