Dáil debates

Thursday, 14 April 2016

8:25 pm

Photo of Michael FitzmauriceMichael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I start by thanking the people of Roscommon and south Leitrim for re-electing me. We hope to do our best. Modular homes costing €240,000 is ridiculous when we can build houses with bricks and mortar for €85 per square foot where the site is supplied. We cannot keep going down that road because it is an astronomical amount of money. We should go back to the basics. Now and over the next 18 months, 50,000 people will get repossession letters and if we do not solve this, we will have another 8,000 to 10,000 people going onto the housing lists. We have to find a solution. The banks must start listening to and working with people. One way to get the building sector moving is to get money to the private sector to build houses. The rates we are hearing about mean it cannot happen. The other issue is voids. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government must think outside the box. We need to say to local authorities that we will supply 100% of the funding if they can turn a house over in the first month. However, if they dilly-dally for three or four months, they will lose 10% per month. That is what will wake up some of these people to achieve that turnover as if they were in private business.

It is virtually impossible for young people to get on the housing list currently. We must look outside the box again. We can give out about it but at the end of the day, we have to solve it. We have to look at the likes of intergenerational mortgages such as those used in countries like Austria across two and three generations to ensure the price of housing came down. In Roscommon, I have seen plans for ten houses over the next three years. That is not going to solve it. We have also looked at the idea of directing a lot of money towards the private rented sector. However, we can direct all the money we want there, if the houses are not in the towns, one is not going to get anything out of it. When houses are repossessed, the people put out turn up as homeless and the Department of Social Protection will give them rent allowance. Would it not be better for local authorities to take equity in those houses and work with the Department of Social Protection to ensure that we keep people in houses for a certain length of time? Credit unions and the Credit Union Development Association, CUDA, must be brought in on this. They have €4 billion to €5 billion. If it is done sensibly and right - I understand things are afoot at the moment - they can come on board to help solve this problem.

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