Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Housing is an issue across every part of the State. We will go through the crisis in Dublin as well as the crises in every other city and in urban areas. I represent a rural constituency and yet these same problems exist in it. One of the main reasons for this is the recovery for landlords - unfortunately, one of the biggest recoveries we have experienced in this State. The only people who seem to be making money at present are the landlords and rents are going up and up. Even in rural Ireland, we see that happening. It is a serious problem that needs to be tackled.

I will focus on one particular part of it, the banking sector and how that sector has affected the housing market. We had a crisis in banking for many years that many would say was the cause of our economic crisis but that crisis has had a knock-on effect and has also caused the housing crisis.

Mortgage arrears and the number of families in mortgage arrears is a serious problem across the country. I meet people every day of the week who are in serious bother trying to pay their mortgages and trying to avoid the knock on the door from the sheriff. This is a problem that needs to be tackled. The number of repossessions across the State continues to grow. Unfortunately, if we continue in this manner - the courts are holding it off at present - and if, in the near future, we are in a situation where more and more houses are repossessed, those people will end up homeless, and that is a serious problem.

Vulture funds are an issue that have been mentioned by several contributors. The way vulture funds are coming in and threatening to take houses from people is a problem that must be dealt with. I call on the Government to immediately intervene. I am absolutely confident that it can be done because it was done in other countries. The Government should simply take the money and, through State intervention, buy the properties back from the vulture funds at the price they paid for them. Many of these properties, with €300,000 mortgages, are being bought at 10%. Therefore, they are buying for €30,000 a property worth €300,000. We can rent that property back to the borrower and the State could set up a scheme where those borrowers could buy it back over time. That is the kind of intervention that we need to see happening as quickly as possible.

Another issue, which is also related to the banks and what they are doing in this State, is that the variable interest rate for mortgages in Ireland is almost twice what it is in other European countries and yet those same banks are getting the funding from the ECB at the exact same rate as the Irish banks are getting it. The Government needs to tackle that problem. There is no way the ordinary people of Ireland, who are going out to work hard every day and who are trying to pay their mortgage and pay their way, should be used as scapegoats to bail out these banks with exorbitant rates of interest.

Many Members have spoken about the need to build more houses. The fact is many families cannot afford to take out a mortgage because the first requirement under the new rules is this large deposit. Most young people who I meet who want to build or buy a house simply cannot afford the large deposit because they are in rented accommodation for which they are paying probably twice what they should given the number of houses we have heard about that are empty in many parts of the country. There must be clear intervention. That is what this committee needs to do. This committee needs to set out a clear intervention that the State can take to protect the people's rights rather than the rights of the banks. The problem we have in this country is the banks are being protected all the time and the people are paying the price. That needs to end. It is one of the central causes of the housing crisis in this country.

See this speech in context