John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Like a previous speaker, I want to take this opportunity, in my first contribution to the Dáil, to express my thanks to my constituents in Dublin South-West for electing me as their Deputy and putting their faith in me.

I would like to focus on certain issues. I have followed the debate. Many issues have been raised, and in the brief time allocated to me I would like to share some of my thoughts. I am thinking of some of the people who voted for me and whom I met during the campaign. A younger generation than me - namely, those aged 25 to 30 - would in previous times have left home and struck out for a final piece of independence by renting a place of their own. They cannot afford to do that now and there are obvious societal impacts. I think of those who traditionally expected to own their homes, such as public servants, white-collar workers, bank officials, nurses, teachers and gardaí. There is an emerging generation of people who can no longer aspire to that, something of which we have to be very mindful.

I think of those who sleep rough at home in overcrowded houses, bedding down on a sofa every evening, perhaps because they could not afford to pay the rent for previous homes and had to return to their family homes. I think of those in hostels, who are separated from partners, and those who spend their days keeping warm in hospitals, shopping malls and public libraries, to name just a few. I think of those on the housing list, as mentioned by previous speakers, for what seems like an eternity.

I think in particular, but not exclusively, of some separated people who have lost their homes, perhaps as a result of separation, and whose access to their children is, as a consequence, far from ideal. They often have to bring their children to their parents' homes during visiting periods. I think of families living in hotel rooms without an address to speak of, who are considered to have been accommodated by local authorities.

I know of a couple who have paid close to €150,000 in rent over the past 15 years. They have fine secure jobs, but earn too much to avail of a council mortgage and not enough to avail of a bank mortgage. They have no capacity to save for a deposit, but have demonstrated a capacity to meet their rental commitments over a decade or more. I refer to them because their landlord, as is his or her entitlement, now wants to sell the house in which they live. There is nowhere for them to rent. Their children have been in local schools for the past number of years and, as a family, they have set down roots in their local community.

I think of the mental and psychological toll on families living in hotel rooms. There is a lack of personal, developmental and creative space and a lack of privacy or opportunity for private time. The psychological cost of the housing and homelessness crisis has never been fully counted, but I am convinced that it is a cost we will be paying for decades. The focus has been on building, which is correct, but we also need to focus on the need for proper interventions to be put in place for families and staff working behind counters who deal with these issues on a day-to-day basis and for whom it is also a very stressful occupation.

The outgoing Government lost the confidence of the people when it came to housing and homelessness, particularly in regard to the rental market and the provision of social housing. My constituency, Dublin South-West, is administered by South Dublin County Council. No social houses were built in 2014 and 2015. It is likely to be the second half of 2016 before any social houses are constructed. In this new fragmented Dáil, everyone elected must play his or her part in contributing to an end to the housing crisis. It is not good enough for people to sit on the ditch and pontificate but not participate. I do not think the electorate will easily forgive those who work in their interest alone and not in the national interest.

Fianna Fáil put forward two key points in its manifesto, among a wide range of proposals. One was to restore Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 in full and, in addition, put in place dedicated Part V teams in local authorities to ensure the scheme can be run.

I again refer to the couple I mentioned. One of the platforms of our manifesto was that if an individual can demonstrate that he or she has met rental payments over a period of time - in 65% of rent cases, rent payments are more expensive than mortgage repayments - that should be evidence that one is capable of repaying a mortgage.

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