Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As spokesperson on housing and urban renewal, I welcome the committee's report on housing and homelessness. Under the chairmanship of my colleague, Deputy John Curran, the committee has produced a comprehensive document which understands the depth and the breadth of the Irish housing and homelessness crisis. The manner in which the committee was formed and conducted its business which, hopefully, will be taken up by Ministerial and Government action, is a template of how new politics in this Dáil can work. I say this deliberately in a week where many are questioning new politics. We are all agreed that the seriousness of the housing issue is reflected in the fact that not one single aspect of housing policy in Ireland is functioning correctly at the moment. Emergency accommodation and homelessness is beyond breaking point, with over 2,000 children now homeless. I repeat there are currently mover 2,000 children homeless tonight in the Irish republic of 2016. I welcome the meeting today by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Zappone, with children's agencies on this issue and I pledge my support for practical and immediate measures to help these families.

The rental sector has spiralled out of control for existing tenants and out of reach for prospective tenants. There is a shortage of private accommodation and a lack of realistic mortgage availability. The Irish State, and in particular our local authorities, have seemingly forgotten how to build houses and, crucially, how to manage the supply of housing. The right of a person to a home, to shelter, is a fundamental in any functioning State. The Irish State has had reasonably positive stories with regard to housing for much of its history but the period since the economic crash has thrown the entire housing sector into disarray.

I am a new Deputy but I have been a local representative for 12 years. I am shocked at the amount of serious housing issues I have been dealing with in Wicklow and east Carlow since the general election in February. Over 75% of all constituency representations made to me have been in regard to housing and all are extremely serious.

I am sure every Deputy has a similar report to make.

I welcomed the seriousness with which the Minister has treated this issue and the recent increase in rent supplement. However, the increase is nowhere near what the market can demand in rent in certain areas. North Wicklow is now at south Dublin levels for private rental rates so the increase in rent supplement will be of limited assistance to residents of Bray, Gorey, Wicklow and Arklow. Further attention will be needed to ensure that the intention of the rent supplement increase follows through to results on the ground in high-pressure areas such as Wicklow's commuter belt. Again, I accept the lack of supply is driving rental prices up but there must be a limit to rent increases in pressure areas while supply is being addressed.

To tackle the urgent lack of supply, I particularly support the proposed vacant properties audit, which must be carried out by every local authority immediately. There are vacant properties that with some remedial works could be made into habitable accommodation in every town and village and I know they exist in Wicklow and east Carlow. This is an urgent requirement and if additional personnel need to be temporarily deployed by local authorities to identify these properties then so be it. Lateral thinking should also be employed here, for example, all Tidy Towns groups could be contacted to help identify vacant properties. We are told that every local authority area has a functioning public participative network representing all the community and voluntary groups in a county. They could be contacted immediately in order to help in this search. The housing crisis demands solidarity of action from everyone in public and civic society.

The identification and upgrade of vacant properties would have the knock-on effect of directly assisting the urban renewal that is required in our efforts to maximise accommodation capacity in large urban cities, towns and villages. The immediate possibility of vacant properties delivering 6,000 habitable accommodation units as identified in the report must be looked at seriously and come with a suite of targeted incentives.

As stated in the report, the obvious answer to the housing and homelessness crisis is increasing the supply of housing. There are specific and ambitious targets set out in the report with an overall increase of 50,000 units with an annual average of 10,000 units through acquisition, refurbishments and new builds. Every local authority will have to significantly up its game in respect of achieving these targets but where it has a valid concern, it must be acted upon by Government. There can be no room for turf wars or bruised egos in this time of national crisis and every one of us have a constructive role to play here.

At the first meeting of the Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government, I raised the current underspend reflected in this year's Estimates and in fairness, the Minister assured me that delivery of the spend is two and a half times faster than it was this time last year. As we are entering the early stages of the new budget preparations, I urge the Government to seek EU approval urgently to achieve flexibility in the fiscal rules, as the report recommends. The financing of social housing should be explained as a matter of vital national interest where the EU should show solidarity with the Irish people. As the UK deals with the outcome of Brexit, it is now looking towards a further reduction in interest rates and another possible round of quantitative easing. Europe fell behind the UK by a number of years the last time this happened, particularly in respect of quantitative easing. It is time to loosen the fiscal rules and investing in a social housing programme would be one way of stimulating the economy while addressing our urgent housing needs.

Unfortunately, I do not have the time to address issues relating to mortgages, planning, the role of NAMA and all the other issues that were raised but these are other important strands in addressing housing that cannot be left to one side. All aspects of housing policy, management and delivery must change if we are to get on top of this crisis.

There needs to be relentless and ruthless political leadership shown by everyone in this House to meet the ambitious but purposeful targets set out in this report. Constant political diligence and focus, particularly when the media attention shifts as it inevitably will, are further requirements of all Deputies in this House. I can assure this House that I will fulfil my responsibility as a Fianna Fáil spokesperson in a collective, inclusive and patriotic fashion. I will support all realistic solutions from any element of this Dáil, be they Government or Opposition. Our actions on housing will be rightly seen as a key indicator of the effectiveness of the new politics. This report is a good start. Let us take the baton and continue the work.

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