Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I know that my time is limited, but I appreciate Deputies Haughey and McGuinness giving me some time on the issue.

Santa Claus is just around the corner, but sadly many children are worried about whether he will know where to come this year. That is because so many families are living in hostels and hotels. We all know that Santa will know where to come, because he is the master of everything.

It is unbelievable that in this day and age we cannot bring some sanity to this situation. As Deputy McGuinness said, when the country had far less we could solve problems far better. I do not believe the provisions of the Bill will solve any problems. I know the Minister of State, Deputy English, the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and everybody else genuinely want to solve this and are working hard to try to do so. However, I do not believe fast-tracking house builds will work.

In my constituency many houses have been vacant for a long period. I do not understand why banks take families to court to put them out of houses, and two or three years later the houses are falling into disrepair. We have people on housing lists everywhere and families put out on the roadside and having to get accommodation through the local authority. I do not believe this fast-tracking will work. At the end of the day we will have to go back to the local authorities and let them do what they used to do over the years, namely, build the houses and house people in them.

I think the Minister of State, Deputy English, will agree that planning in rural areas is becoming very prohibitive. I will give one example. I know a couple in their late 50s living in an old two-storey house. Because of rules and regulations laid down by the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government in recent years, those people who now want to replace that house with a bungalow on the same site are not allow to do so. At this stage in their lives it makes sense for them, but they are not allowed to do it. These are the types of situations that arise. We cannot allow them to develop and must nip them in the bud. That type of prohibitive planning does not help the situation at all.

I have much more to say about flooding, etc., but I will have to avail of another opportunity to do that. I again thank my colleagues for sharing their time.

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