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

The ability for people to buy and own their own homes as a general principle is something that I very much support. Societies in which people have home ownership are generally wealthier societies. In many other countries in which people rent for all their lives, much of the money a person makes in his or her lifetime is given to a landlord and is funnelled to the top of that society. There are very wealthy landlord classes in many countries around Europe and the middle classes end up without any equity after working all their lives. In Ireland, we have a system that is different and the opposite of that. It comes from a tradition in which many people want to own their own homes. That is very positive and is something we need to encourage and support.

I have one point to make in regard to the notion that we should allow people to purchase Part V houses. I principle, I agree with it. The problem is that we are now in a housing crisis and that has to be borne in mind. We are in a situation in which there are very few houses being built in the private sector and absolutely none being built in the public sector. When all of that is considered, we have put ourselves into this position in which a number of people in Part V houses want to buy their own home. Of course they should be able to do it. However, the problem is that in doing that, we totally deplenish the housing stock that we have. We have to recognise that that is a huge problem. This can only be done in the context of an overall review of everything that we are doing. The housing policy that was announced yesterday is a part of that. The review will be out by next March. We need to look at it in the round at that point.

The present incremental purchase scheme is not a good one. I remember the old scheme that most councils had whereby, if a person lived in a house, for every year that he or she was paying rent, he or she got 3% off the price of the house, up to 30% after ten years. It meant that most people did not set out to buy their houses until they had been there for seven, eight or perhaps even the ten years, at which stage they were very settled in the community. The present scheme means that a person can actually buy a house after living there for 12 months or two years. I do not think that is a good thing. The other issue that has to be borne in mind is that very many people who wish to buy their own houses do not have access to finance at the moment to do so. There are bigger issues here that need to be dealt with than just the purchase of Part V houses.

While I absolutely appreciate the spirit of the motion that is being put before us, I believe we need to act in an overall context of examining everything around how houses are purchased in Ireland, from the point of view of local authority houses, people who are in more working-class families and people in the lower middle classes who want to try to buy their own home and pursue that option because they live in local authority houses. That is something we need to deal with. There are also people out there who just want to buy a private house and cannot do so right now because there is no access to capital anywhere. That is another big issue that we have to bear in mind. I absolutely agree with the spirit of the motion but I believe it is ill timed. It needs to come in the context of a review of the overall process and the overall plan that we are bringing forward. The Government's proposal, as set out in the amendment, to postpone looking at all of this and look at it in the round next March, or whenever the review comes to a conclusion, is the right way forward.

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