Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister and I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I will discuss some provisions and sections in the Bill but also broader issues to help with the delivery of housing, which is a massive issue nationally.

I welcome some of the proposals in the Bill, particularly section 42, which deals with the extension of recurring planning applications up to 2021 without the obligation to submit new applications. That is a major issue nationally, particularly in my constituency where people started to develop and build up to 100 houses on sites, which is not a massive number by any means. Unfortunately, due to economic circumstances outside their control, they did not have the sites finished and because they got an extension of time, they then had to engage with the local authorities.

They were asking them to submit a whole new planning application and redesign the site, which was totally impractical and was causing further delays. From dealing with the officials in the Department whom I thank for their engagement and positive feedback, I understand that is now being substantially dealt with in this Bill where a planning permission can be extended up to 2021 without making a new application. I hope my reading of it is correct. That is hugely important. If we are serious about delivering houses and serious about dealing with the housing crisis, and we look at the different ways that can be done, this is an area where we must be realistic and practical and we have got to support and help in the delivery of housing in a strategic, proper, practical way.

I note that in the other part of the Bill, the Minister is speaking about flooding and dealing with trying to assist the other Department, and I met the Minister's colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Canney. Currently, for example, in Celbridge in my constituency, there is a local area plan going on public display in a couple of weeks' time. There is a substantial area that is not being considered which is beside both the motorway and public transport, the new Hazelhatch train station, which has got a whole new timetable with advanced and more frequent trains, and extra services. I note within the plan that they are not considering that area on the advice of consultants because of a risk of flooding, although the OPW website states that flooding does not happen on this site, and on one part of it it is a one in a 100 year risk. I wonder whether there is something within this Bill that we could look at to assist proper strategic development in an area, which is a five-minute walk from public transport, beside a lot of sporting amenities and beside the motorway. It is something that might be worth looking at.

I acknowledge that the only way housing can be delivered is through three mechanisms: local authority housing, the housing agencies and through the private sector. Kildare County Council made a positive announcement yesterday, which my party welcomes, where it has signed the contract to develop 20 units in Kilcock. That is sending out the right signal. At the same time it is preparing and going through a Part 8 process to deliver further social housing in Prosperous. That is all extremely welcome. The local authorities need to be better supported and aided to deliver social housing on their own sites to enable them make more announcements, such as we have seen yesterday for Kilcock and for Prosperous.

We need to support the housing agencies to work with the local authorities to deliver as well, but in addition the private sector has to play a major role in developing and delivering housing, of course, in a strategic, balanced manner. The reality is local authorities cannot deal with answering the current housing crisis on their own. It has to be a partnership approach from all of those different agencies working positively to get houses built and that is really what we should be focused on doing. Anyone who believes that this problem can be resolved without the private sector playing a major positive role is not living in reality because we need their involvement and input in a number of different ways.

I also note the lack of infrastructure and I spoke about it in this House under the Finance Bill and previously with the Minister and with his officials. This is a national issue but, for example, my county, Kildare, in addition to Dublin and a couple of other counties are recognised as having an acute housing crisis. In areas of Naas, Maynooth and Clane there are sites zoned for housing and planning applications ready to go and people in funds, but they cannot build houses because of the lack of infrastructure. In those three areas, Naas, Clane and Maynooth, it is a lack of ring roads. I met someone recently in Maynooth and someone in Naas who have land zoned. They went in and had meetings regarding lodging planning applications, one of which is for 70 units. They are ready to go when they get planning permission and it is on zoned land so it is inevitable that it will happen. They were told with regret that they cannot return to the planning authority until the ring-road is built, but they cannot take the lead in that because the fact the route goes through a number of different land-holdings is causing an issue. That is a problem that we need to focus on and address because that would assist positively in developing and delivering much needed houses.

Celbridge and Leixlip are fast-developing towns. Celbridge has a population of 22,000 and Leixlip's is 15,000. They are going through local area plans at present but there are major deficits because of lack of infrastructure, such as bridges, to free-up particular areas of the towns for development, and that is another issue.

Of course, then there is the issue of wastewater infrastructure and the lack of it, where other areas are being held up in those same development locations which are ready to go in Leixlip, Kilcock and Celbridge. This is a problem. I have met senior officials in the Department at the Minister's say so and we have had positive engagement. Here funding needs to be delivered to the local authorities to deliver the infrastructure that is within their control, such as ring-roads and bridges.

In addition, Irish Water must come on board and play an important role here. I note from the previous two engagements I have had with officials in the Department that there seems to be more positive engagement coming from Irish Water, but still not what we need to see. It is not acceptable that they say to those who have been granted planning permission that they can build houses but they cannot occupy them for up to six years. It is neither acceptable nor good enough that there is a state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plant in Leixlip in the north of the county and they say they cannot deliver the waste and effluent to it. We should be looking at delivering the infrastructure in tandem with the delivery of housing units. The housing will not be delivered overnight - it will take up to two years - and there is nothing to say that the infrastructure cannot be delivered in tandem with the housing development. Kildare County Council, like many other local authorities, has made significant applications to the Local Infrastructural Housing Activation Fund. It is a €200 million fund and we would be hopeful that it would be designated for the counties in need rather than there being a little bit for everyone which would be a mistake. We need to ensure that the fund is divided up in a way that will have a meaningful effect on the delivery the infrastructure to help deliver the units that we all so badly need.

I also note there is an opportunity under the capital expenditure programme. We should look to extend that, given the cost of borrowing is less than 1% at present. I wonder why the Government is not borrowing at this low rate to invest in capital projects which would assist positively the Local Infrastructural Housing Activation Fund of €200 million in delivering houses. It is all about delivery. We can talk in this House forever about houses, the need for houses and the housing crisis but the only way the housing crisis will be dealt with is by getting houses built. These are real, practical issues, in addition to what the Minister spoke about, has alluded to and is dealing with in the Bill, that are preventing houses from being constructed right now.

I note, too, there is currently a shortage of skills in the country for obvious reasons, with people retraining or emigrating. We need a consistent house-building programme so that over a period of time we can sustain house building jobs, finances and, indeed, the economy. That is hugely important. There has been no house construction for a number of years, it is trying to get started and now there is a shortage in all those areas. If we have a balanced consistent approach with a good strategy to develop and deliver housing over a period of time, and it does not merely come in a peak and go, it means we will be better able to sustain the economy and those jobs.

My final point, because my time is nearly out, is in relation to landlords. I agree with the Minister that we cannot disincentivise landlords because we are depending on them to take people out of homelessness or to deal with the current housing crisis. While we cannot give them a blank cheque or anything like that, we need to work with and support them with legislation and policy to ensure that they continue to allow their properties to be rented, particularly to those on the social housing list. That is a significant issue. Whether with HAP, RAS or rent supplement, private landlords are being incentivised. We need to ensure that we keep them in the loop so that they make their properties available to rent to those who are homeless who are on housing lists who need them. There are no other houses at present and there is a housing shortage. We need to work with them, until we get more houses constructed and until there is a greater supply.

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