Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----so that he can check it with his officials. If it is the case, we need an explanation as to why.

Improvements must made to the way in which this issue and the issue of voids are addressed. There has to be more discretion given to local authorities in dealing with these issues, rather than the current delays, for example in the case of the €30,000 cap provision, and which lead to a wait of many months, even a year in some cases, to access funding that must be made available for such development.

There must be greater discretion given to local authorities on capital projects. I understand it is capped at €2 million at present but it should be increased to €5 million. There should be some aspect of generic design for different-sized developments in different regions of the country. I know that is something the planners need to look at but this committee should look at the prospect of improvements in that area.

With regard to the private sector, the cost of development and building units is the stumbling block. When one compares that cost to the price of units in various parts of the country, the costs far outweigh some of the prices that are being achieved, despite the fact that, for example, NAMA is selling units which the Government is not interested in taking on board. That is a mistake of the past and it cannot be allowed to happen again in the future. It is something this committee needs to copperfasten in some form of legislation, or in an alteration to the NAMA legislation.

The costs associated with construction, through labour, site costs, development charges, certification costs on foot of the new building regulations - in some cases €20,000 in the city of Dublin - and VAT are all issues that need to be investigated. There needs to be reductions achieved in the areas of costs in order for the 100,000 units that need to be developed over the next five years to be built. This will help to address the situation of social housing, affordable housing and for people to have units available to rent, lease, buy or whatever the case maybe.

Access to funds is pivotal. Many involved in the construction trade will tell the Minister that the banks are not lending. The Government's intervention in that area was cumbersome, slow, did not meet the criteria or do as it would have wished. It provided €125 million and I understand there was an American capital fund of €375 million, which gave a total of €500 million. The rates we believe are being charged are similar to those that the mezzanines are charging, in the region of 15% to 17%. That will not address the difficulty around accessibility of funds. Funding has to be drawn down from strategic investment funds, private investment bonds and from the credit unions, who indicated to the Government as far back as 12 months ago, their willingness to make capital funding available to the State for construction initiatives. These funds could go to the private sector and to housing associations, which are barred from access to private funds. This must be addressed.

In the case of State lands, or lands in the ownership of local authorities not being used, there should be some initiatives to allow joint ventures to provide social and leasing units. In that situation, the VAT on the social element could be removed. I am aware the Department has an issue with VAT being removed in the private sector but in the case of social units it can make a difference and improve profitability. The construction sector could make units available to those that need them. That too must be investigated.

With regard to town centres, we want to see refurbishment initiatives in the towns and villages throughout the country that have been decimated over the last number of years. We could look at the compulsory purchase order, CPO, powers and how they could be improved. I take on board what the Minister has been saying in recent months in regard to property rights and I acknowledge the difficulty there. I hope that the legal advice being given to the Minister will be made available to the committee so that it could investigate ways and means by which it could be addressed. I specifically ask that the committee look at the CPO legislation and also to look at ways of making the funding I have mentioned available to address development in derelict buildings, buildings that are in disrepair, buildings that have not been occupied and buildings where the owners do not have access to capital.

I ask the committee to investigate the area of saving schemes to help people save the necessary deposits to meet the regulations introduced by the Central Bank.

6 o’clock

There should also be recommendations on a weighted allowance for those renting property, which is proof of their capacity to meet the requirements of a mortgage thereafter. We said the following on the rental sector consistently during the last Dáil, as did many others, apart from the those in government who rejected it at every hand's turn. It is not just politicians who said it but also stakeholders at the coal-face. We must increase rent allowance in the short term. It is as simple as that. It could be reviewed every six months, while the effect of the other initiatives we have mentioned are beginning to bear fruit, not least those the last Government brought forward. It was not all bad. A great deal of it was, but there was some movement. The Government had the best of intentions on modular homes, but when one heard the information that was given to me and my colleagues late last year, the cost associated with it far outweighed the cost of properties available for sale.

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