Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to speak on this Bill, which proposes to link rent increases to the consumer price index. It is important to analyse and assess the dire housing crisis in this country. It should not give us any solace to be here this evening at the onset of darkness in the knowledge that over 2,000 children will sleep in hotel beds tonight and that many people are homeless. Successive Governments have failed to deal with this problem. It is necessary that we try to do so. I salute the interim housing committee that was established under the chairmanship of Deputy Curran. I know those who have made an input into the committee have worked hard. People from outside agencies and bodies have given their advice and input. I look forward with bated breath to reading the committee's report. I hope to do so by the end of the week. Many people have been writing about this issue from far and near. Many people have suggested ways of solving this crisis. We can have all the reports in the world, but none of them will bring any solace to those who are homeless, including many children and those who are sleeping rough tonight, or to the thousands of people who are living in dread of being made homeless.

This is a multifaceted problem. While I do not doubt Deputy Connolly, I was quite shocked to hear her say that no local authority houses have been built in Galway in the past year. Very few houses have been built in Tipperary. Something has gone fundamentally wrong. I know we had a deep and dark recession in recent years, but I remind the House that local authorities were able to build thousands of houses in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and even into the 1980s and 1990s. There was very little construction equipment in the 1950s and 1960s. There was a reliance on manual labour because cranes and modern forms of technology, such as the modern means of excavation and construction, were not available. We seem to have some kind of inertia now. We do not seem able to respond to the need that exists. These issues are passed between the county managers and the directors of services and housing. They are passed up to the Department and back down again.

Funding has been announced by successive Ministers. The previous Minister, Deputy Kelly, announced that a multi-annual fund of €4 billion would be provided, but nothing is happening. This is highly frustrating for people who have been waiting for four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11 or 12 years to be put on the housing list. It is fundamentally soul-destroying. This is happening in Wicklow, Tipperary and everywhere else. The number of approved applicants on the housing list in Tipperary is 30 or 40 short of 3,000. That is a massive figure. There are many unfinished estates in the county. When companies came to me in the last year or so because they wanted to buy those estates and offer them to local authorities with a quick turnaround, they were met with total disbelief.

Unfortunately, there is now a kind of taboo with regard to builders. Small builders, in particular, seem to be an endangered species. It is as if there is a bounty on their heads. If we do not enable small builders to provide housing, we will never restart the construction industry. I accept that many rogues and cowboys got into the building industry during the boom.

There are many good and decent builders who started off as tradesmen, becoming self-employed and employing people, building fine well-finished and good houses at reasonable prices. They are still out there willing to take up the cudgels but they cannot get a bob from the banks or credit from elsewhere.

There are also issues of blockages in terms of development lands. I welcome this week's announcement of €200 million by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, to deal with blockages, such as access to development land. This is not only needed in the major areas where there are significant crises but in small towns and villages.

I also welcome the penalties to be introduced in respect of those hoarding zoned lands. There are a lot of zoned lands, some of them are in NAMA while others are in no man's land. We need to deal with this situation.

Planning permission needs to be dealt with too. I have met several young couples who have acquired sites, hired architects, put money and deposits together for loans and have gone to much expense to build their own homes. However, they cannot get planning permission. The county councils are like the dog in the manger. They will not build houses for anybody nor will they allow people to build for themselves. I accept there must be planning guidelines and rules with good proper planning. However, the rules are over strenuous. The granting of planning permission is onerous and can cost a fortune. It is putting off those people who want to build their own houses, who do not want to add to the housing crisis and who have the vision, the wherewithal and the courage to borrow and to build. The former Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, brought in a regulation to stop all that. The building of individual private houses was stopped in its tracks. This needs to be examined as well, as it is a multifaceted problem.

Last night, I chaired a meeting of the Carrick-On-Suir Voluntary Housing Association. The association has 17 two-bed units, built in 2000 and rented to tenants since 2001 at €55 a week. The rent has never been increased. We discussed it again last night but did not increase it. I salute voluntary bodies up and down the country, as well as the board of the Irish Council for Social Housing, which are making a significant contribution to housing. There used to be a one-stop shop for these voluntary housing boards to cut out the red tape. It must be remembered these voluntary groups are ordinary individuals giving their time voluntarily to supply houses. In 2009, someone decided - an bord snip was blamed for it but it was probably on the instruction of the departmental officials - to do away with this one-stop shop. Now the housing associations have to go to seven different parts of the country to deal with the Department. It is just frustratingly mind-boggling.

The same is happening with the county councils. They are passing paper back and forward with e-mails about talks about talks and meetings about meetings and sweet - I will not say it - is happening, or not much happening, with house commencements or completions. When I was a councillor back in 2000, it was lovely to see the handover of the keys for council houses and to go to the official openings of local authority housing estates. However, it has all stopped. We need to examine why. The councils and the Department have to take up the cudgels, stand up and be held accountable as to why it is not happening at any level. We have voids lying idle for one to four years. The councils will claim they cannot get approval from the Department for the costs to repair the voids. We found out recently that if the repairs cost more than €12,000, it will have to go to the Department but the Department cannot get the money to the local authorities.

I compliment Sinn Féin for introducing this Bill tonight. We need a far more detailed response to housing. I had hoped we would wait a little longer, but not too much longer, to get the full package promised from the housing committee. However, we cannot wait forever, just rubbing our hands. That is no good to the homeless people. We are shirking our responsibilities if we do not act. I wish the Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, well in his new role and hope he will be successful. This is a matter that needs to be dealt with urgently.

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