Michael D'Arcy (Wexford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Maria Bailey. The area I would like to raise is affordable housing. The sector is crucial because if we get that area correct we can move north and south of affordable housing. North of affordable housing is private housing and south is social housing. I am very passionate about trying to ensure we have that area correct. The numbers I have been given very recently on the construction of a very standard three bed semi-detached house of less than 1,100 sq. ft., which used to be the old criteria attached to a first-time house purchase, is that it costs about €180,000. The difficulty with that is that the construction costs includes the site cost of about €16,000, profit of about €14,000 and VAT of over €21,000. Those figures are up to date as of last week. The difficulty is that somebody on moderate pay of around €30,000 will not meet the Central Bank criteria and will not get the loan unless they have a very large deposit. It is practically impossible to gather up that deposit along with paying rent. The even more difficult qualifying criteria from the Central Bank is the ratio of loan to earnings. There is no way around that; there is a way around deposit if one is fortunate enough for somebody to be able to give them some funds.

There are two options. The first option, the important one, is to bring down the price of the property. That can be done and I welcome the mixed tenure possibility involved in the housing plan. The State has land but should the State charge people on low pay on a mortgage over 30 years to pay for that site price? We want people to have the capacity to buy their own property, which is affordable, so that in future they have the capacity not to spend all their money on their house but to participate in society and community because they have some spending power. That is the real nub of this. If we get that right, we will have more people coming out of the rental sector and they will have purchased their own property. The pressure then will be relieved on the rental sector. The problem currently is that the rental sector is at an over-capacity stage.

I welcome the student accommodation. It is crucial that it happens in areas where the bulk of the students are - Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. There are other areas.

I will conclude and let Deputy Bailey in. It is really important that we move on the affordability of these housing units. It is more than just Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway. There are areas around the country such as Greystones, my town of Gorey, Wexford, Kilkenny and many others where analysis is required.

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