Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, am delighted to speak in this debate but as many previous speakers stated, and I compliment the new Members on their maiden speeches, it is a time-wasting exercise because it will not rehouse any person who is not already housed.

I am glad the caretaker Minister is in the Chamber. If he built anything near the number of houses he promised, announced and turned sods, the housing crisis, certainly in some parts of the country, would be halved.

It was all announcements and no action. That is what happened with the previous Government. It was about spin and everything else, but it forgot about the people. Fr. Peter McVerry, for whom many people have great respect, stated recently that from January to October 2015 the number of families in emergency accommodation rose from 401 to 774. This is an increase of 93%. Where are we going? This was last year, when we were here rubbing our hands and the Minister was making announcements all over the place and turning sods and God knows what. During the same time period, the number of children in those families in emergency care rose from 865 to 1,638, which was an increase of 90%. In 2016, when we have all the hoo-hurrah commemorating what went on in 1916, we allowed this to happen under the watch of the previous Government. The people have spoken and have dealt with this.

I listened to the caretaker Minister, Deputy Howlin, who was one of the management team who did not have money for this or for that. He and the Minister, Deputy Michael Noonan, should have called in the banks and told them in some way to stop the cruelty, repossession, torture and terror. People got rich through expelling people from their homes, terrorising them in their homes and evictions. They are the vulture companies which exploited the entire situation, the repossession companies, the county registrars and county sheriffs. It is disgusting behaviour and this industry has become very lucrative with those involved resorting to all types of tactics. I attended some of the scenes myself. They employed force, with balaclavas and dogs crawling across fields to terrorise widow women and other people. This went on under the previous Government's watch and is still going on. It is going on now, which is why it is so important to have a Government soon because there is a free for all with no one to stop them or say anything to them. It has become a very lucrative business and industry. I call it blood money because it is nothing short of it. It is disgusting and depraved activity, preying on ordinary people who housed themselves and who might have invested a few bob in their businesses. Some of them had their homes paid for and mortgage dealt with, but remortgaged a small amount to keep a business afloat in challenging times. This is the thanks they are getting from the banks which the country bailed out and for which the people are paying. We must rein in the banks and NAMA. Whatever new Government is there must deal with this, otherwise it will be banished as well.

I agree wholeheartedly with the former Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd. Town centres are dying. On O'Connell Street in Clonmel three families live above their business premises. I would go one step further in the regeneration scheme Deputy O'Dowd mentioned. Make town centres alive again with people living in them, and encourage people who have shops closed five or ten years to reconvert them to living accommodation without huge punitive charges. We would gain two things. We would have accommodation for some of the people mentioned, including families and single people, and we would regenerate town centres. It is not rocket science. The voluntary housing sector has a huge role to play. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government had a dedicated section to deal with it, but An Bord Snip decided to get rid of it. It was too efficient. It was a dedicated section to deal with voluntary groups, of which I am a member. Now, one must deal with seven aspects of the Department in various towns throughout the country. It is a closed shop. We have too much talk and too much paper being passed and no houses being built.

Recently I spoke to a businessman in Clonmel who wanted to convert his failed business into apartments. He went to the bank manager with his accountant but was told it would not be viable to do it because of the charges for the change of use, charges for parking spaces, the punitive charges by local authorities and the Government and VAT. A total of 62% of the investment would be in charges and it would not be viable so he could not get a bank loan. We need to look at these crippling situations of bureaucracy. We also need to help our local authorities. They are no longer fit for purpose to deliver housing. It is a sad indictment that in the 1950s and 1960s we could build thousands of houses every year, but last year we only had five built in County Tipperary, from where the Minister with responsibility for the environment comes. This tells us what type of a Minister he was. Never mind the rest of the country, because if he could not do it at home he could not do it anyplace else. He would rather speak about it, spin it and hype it. When all-party committees went to him he insulted half of the members with arrogance and by not listening to them. The voluntary sector can play a huge role here and we need to think outside the box and rein in the likes of Carlyle investments, which are terrorising people and causing suicides in my county and elsewhere throughout the country. We need to rein in the vile vulture funds before we do anything else.

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