Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is on topic. It was headed "Less than 7 houses built in Tipperary in 2015", referring to those built by the local authorities. That was in September 2015 and we are now at Christmas 2016, going into 2017. I stated that the latest house building figures released by the Department for County Tipperary - they were not my figures - confirmed the scale of underinvestment in the county. The House must remember that we had Alan the Mighty, who was the Minister at the time, and, God, what he was not going to build, knock out of his way and get done. It was unreal. That was his way; he could not wait to get at it. He was going to leave a legacy after him. He left some legacy all right.

In the press release, I spoke about the data from the building control management system managed by the Local Government Management Agency - again, they were not my figures - which showed that only six publicly available houses were built in County Tipperary up to the end of July 2015 while 2,920 people were on the approved housing list in the county. The figure of approved applicants for social housing in County Tipperary is now well north of 3,000. We are not even scratching the surface. One would not know that Deputy Kelly ever came to Tipperary or was ever Minister with responsibility for the environment, although he was in Europe. He pledged to stay there for five years when he got elected, but he came back after two and a half.

In the press release, I noted that these numbers were incredibly worrying and pointed once again to the total failure of the last Government to address the scale of the housing emergency with anything like the speed that was required. We can have all the Bills we want in this House, but nothing is happening. There is no excuse for work: taking out a pickaxe and a shovel. We built houses when all we had was pickaxes and shovels. We had labourers, whom I salute. I will not say they worked as Mary O'Rourke once said about some kind of a man because it might be inappropriate, but they worked very hard and built houses with no equipment or machinery. Nowadays we have all the machines and equipment in the world along with designers, architects, special advisers and you name it, but we cannot build anything.

From March to December 2014 no houses that could have been placed on the public market were built in County Tipperary, while only 30 one-off houses were built, although more people would have built one-off houses had they been allowed. I know lots of couples that cannot get planning permission on their own land because the process is too rigorous. They have the vision, passion and energy to build their own houses but they cannot get the planning permission or the loans because of all the red tape. In 2015 the number of publicly available houses had not reached double digits, with only six houses being built for that purpose, while 50 one-off houses were built. That was only 80 or so houses altogether in the two years. I stated that it was now a matter of clear and certain judgment that the then Government had failed, as had the then Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, in respect of his promises. Deputy Kelly now speaks on Bills and what this Government should do, but he did nothing himself. It is the kettle calling the pot black. One would think he was on a different planet. The Labour Party had many other issues as well when Deputy Howlin was the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. That was the situation. I feel so sorry for the homeless and those who need homes.

The buy-to-let scheme is a solution. Some 200,000 units are being bought up by vulture funds while this Government wants to change the legislation to fast track cases through the Circuit Court. I, with the land league and others, stopped Circuit Courts in their tracks from evicting people. In many cases, county registrars - these people are not even judges - were basically throwing people out of their homes. We stopped them in their tracks, but now the Government wants to change the law to allow them to take on that role again. It will be cheaper, mar dhea, and there will be only so much in legal fees. It is a Bill aimed at fat cats, although I mean no disrespect to the Cathaoirleach, who is an eminent lawyer. I heard lawyers in this House arguing that it would make the process faster and easier on families, but it does not matter what representation those families have, they will be evicted from their houses unless this is stopped in its tracks. We must not change that law.

I welcome the e-mail from the Simon Community, Focus Ireland and other organisations today, which Deputy Collins mentioned. I got it as well. There are 200,000 buy-to-lets in the country. No one who is paying his or her rent should be fired out of the house. Many pubs, shops and businesses are sold on with tenants in them. It is standard practice every day of the week. Why can it not be done here? It is greed. The banks and the vulture funds see a killing. The greed must be stopped because it has gone on for far too long.

A recent census report stated that more than 100,000 properties are vacant. We are codding ourselves. We need to take a dose of Epsom salts, pinch ourselves hard and smell the coffee. These are houses that are available. Many of them are boarded up and this Bill is only tinkering with the situation. I see houses in my own area where finished estates have been abandoned for the past seven or eight years. They should be subjected to a compulsory purchase order by the county council and a reasonable rate given to the developers and builders.

There are some very good builders out there. Not all builders and developers are monsters as portrayed by certain Members of the House. Many of them are good people. Small builders could make a big dent here and lift the rural economy too by getting a start. Tús maith, leath na hoibre, if only they could get the money from the bank. They are only out to make a small profit to feed their families, employ people and do the one-off houses.

We are not examining many available options. We have various committees and reports from those visiting various parts of Dublin, but this will all be an abject failure because we are not doing anything. We have lost our way. Our county councils have lost their way as well. They have also lost the interest and the skills. I do not know what they have lost, but they just cannot build the houses, although they could build them when they did not have any expertise. We have architects to design one-bed, two-bed, three-bed and four-bed units. Why can we not have the one design for all counties adapted as appropriate to the particular site? It is because the architects would then not have their pound of flesh.

We need to look deep and examine the quangos. I wish the Minister of State and his successor well in dealing with them. I know how involved they both are in the flooding issue. I will not say much more because I think my time is nearly up. However, I ask the Minister of State to go down to the place in Clonmacnoise I mentioned to look at the flooding issue there. I know the Minister of State will go down to see that friend of mine in his constituency and that he will try to deal with those who are trying to keep out the floodwater. However, we might as well be getting ready to get on the ark while we are waiting for the public officials and various departments to build houses. It is not going to happen. The wind is out of the wheels and the wagon is bunched.

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