Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am very disappointed that the Taoiseach has been blaming the local authorities for the housing crisis. It is not acceptable. I deplore the fact he said that the local authorities had lost their ability to build houses. They could not build houses when they were not able to access money. The tenant purchase scheme, which was a great scheme that allowed tenants to purchase their houses, was dropped for three or four years. The new scheme is not accessible to many tenants who wish to purchase their houses. As Deputy Mattie McGrath said, old age pensioners are not allowed to purchase a county council house even though they might have savings achieved over a number of years. For the last three years, we have had no tenant purchase scheme but now these people are being denied the right to purchase the house they have lived in, repaired, modified and brought up to a standard over their lifetime. They cannot buy the house because this scheme, as set out, is designed so that old age pensioners or people on social welfare do not qualify. Another category of people who will not qualify are people who were in arrears with their rent over the last three years for one reason or another. That happens to people and they catch up again but they are being denied the right to purchase their house or go into a purchasing scheme. What that scheme actually meant for the likes of Kerry County Council was that the money that was accrued from the tenants purchasing their houses went back into the repair of voids or vacant houses. As the Department was not giving the local authorities any funding, it meant there were many houses lying idle around the county and people were asking us why such houses were vacant for such a long time. There was no money being accrued because there was no tenant purchase scheme. It is only a little better now and I am asking the Minister to modify and clear the blockages that are preventing tenants from purchasing their houses. It is having a double impact in that the voids are not being brought back to standard and cannot be offered to tenants who are waiting on the list with their thumbs up looking for some place they could call home and have security of tenure.

I raised the national spatial policy with the Taoiseach yesterday. Where is the Minister directing the local authorities to dezone lands, especially around towns where there was phase 1 and phase 2 zoning? It is becoming apparent that in many of the phase 1 zoning, there is trouble with NAMA, ownership and people getting money to go forward. Phase 2 are now going to be dezoned so we will finish up with no land to build houses on. We cannot build houses if there is no land zoned to build them on. I appeal to the Minister to look at that.

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