Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Listening to the Deputies, it is obvious that people agree that there is a serious crisis in the building and, in particular, rental sectors. In the case of the latter, there has been a market failure from the point of view of people who aspire to rent at fair market prices but are increasingly unable to do so. We could conduct an historical analysis of why there has been a building crisis, but the recovery in the market has been much slower than anyone anticipated.

The Bill's measures have been proposed by the Labour Party many times, but many are not shared by the Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil parties. Down the decades, those parties have made that clear. We understand the differences, but we are in a crisis, and when one is in a crisis, one cannot allow matters to continue as they have been. One must be willing to address the market failure. Deputy Cowen agrees that there can be sunset clauses and reviews, but there has been a period of intense and deep market failure.

Notwithstanding the fact that the new Government is broadly following programmes and policies that were initiated and agreed by the Labour Party in government, it is failing in its duty to cap rents. We cannot allow a situation in which people at work - in many cases, a working couple - cannot afford their rents or assuage the greed of landlords. I am sorry that the Fine Gael Party is not giving leadership. A landlord can ask for any rent and, somehow or other, salaries must provide, but they will not provide. This is the failure that I mentioned.

Deputy Kelly introduced rent capping measures and the two-year moratorium. It was hard fought for in government. The Minister, Deputy Noonan, made his disagreement known publicly. After difficult discussions, he was persuaded on the moratorium. The two-year period will come to an end around March, though, and Fine Gael does not understand that the train is moving for many people who have dealt with previous rent hikes. I am not even referring to people living in social housing, but to working people. We are delighted to see them working. It is a celebration of the previous Government, which was able to increase the number at work.

I will cite an example that I have raised with the Taoiseach a couple of times. The Minister of State, Deputy English, will be familiar with it. Clonee is just on the Meath edge of the Meath-Dublin border. A statue of Our Lady marks the border. Just over the border, rents become cheaper because they are in Meath, notwithstanding the fact that the Minister of State is into Meath. I know people who have been renting there for €850 per month. Their two-year moratorium will come to an end in March. They are renting a one and a half-room apartment. The Minister of State will be familiar with that type of situation. It is a double room plus a box room. The box room is small enough for a bit of an office with a computer or a child's bed, and that is it. There is no more space. The people have been renting there for four years, have been good tenants and both are at work, but they have been told that their rent is likely to increase to approximately €1,200. That is not acceptable. No one could stand over it. The landlord has been decent, but landlords have come to know that this is what is expected and is what the Government will allow them to do, namely, to raise rents until the pips squeak.

In the Manor Street area of Dublin 7 on the north side, two-bedroom units are being rented out for €1,800. Those are Hollywood prices. I am not referring to Holywood, County Down, but Hollywood, California. They are not defensible prices for modest, two-bedroom accommodation. People at work cannot afford to pay their rents. I am referring to people who are on moderate incomes, may be at the start of their careers and are also are trying to save enough money to buy a house. Landlords and their agents are being greedy and are exploiting vulnerable people. We must address this situation.

Deputy Bríd Smith made some comments about the Labour Party, but the person who entered the House in 2011 and week in, week out called for rents to be raised was her colleague, Deputy Boyd Barrett. He wanted all caps on rent supplement to be removed. In fairness, Sinn Féin did not clamour for that. Maybe all of his friends are landlords. It is all deep south County Dublin talk. Sometimes, it is a bit different, but when someone clamours again and again for rents to be increased as Deputy Boyd Barrett did, one must ask what was behind that. Rents in 30% of the market, reflected in rent supplement, would be raised.

Deputy Bríd Smith suggested that nothing had happened. While Deputy Jan O'Sullivan was the Minister of State with responsibility for housing and worked with the then Minister, Mr. Phil Hogan, and subsequently when Deputy Kelly was the Minister, 5,000 to 6,000 voided properties were tackled. They were a scandal. I am from Dublin city centre. Members will not believe the rage that I feel when I pass decent flats that have been boarded up and where friends of my parents used to live and that I knew well as a child. I saw the scandal of O'Devaney Gardens, of which I know every stone. It is being boarded up by Dublin City Council and knocked down. My mother's old home was knocked down well over ten years ago. It is such a scandal. The Government must grasp what is happening to the capital city.

In that context, I will address the achievements of Deputies Jan O'Sullivan and Kelly.

6 o’clock

Everyone comes in for criticism, some of it fair and some of it not merited, but it is a very significant development to get 5,000 voided properties that had been lying derelict right around the country back into circulation and to provide them to families. Cork city was another place with an unfortunately high number of voids. The turnaround time in some cases had grown to three years. There must be fairness on the part of Deputy Bríd Smith, whom I am sure is a very fair person, that all of this was achieved at a time when the country was on its knees in terms of the bank collapse. If we are to have a decent discussion on housing we must be honest all around.

I am concerned that I hear hesitation, equivocation and non-engagement in the voice of the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government on rent certainty. I have a couple of suggestions, some of which would tie in with what Deputy Cowen suggested. It would be possible to extend the moratorium by one, two or three years and perhaps to modify it to address what is proposed in the Bill in the context of the consumer price index, CPI. Deputy Cowen was a business man before he became a politician. Landlords could not really baulk at the moratorium being extended because they are getting extraordinarily high rents. We could be flexible and then when the market recovers the issue could be looked at again. People must have rent certainty. Some restrictions must be put in place.

The second topic I wish to raise is the €200 million special fund the previous Government allocated for essential infrastructure to allow sites to be developed. I am familiar with various parts of Dublin city and county, in particular my area of Fingal. There is a site for 3,000 houses, which is part of a special development zone and it has full planning permission, but it cannot go ahead until some of the road infrastructure is built. I asked the Taoiseach about it the other day. I am pleased the Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, is present because perhaps he understood what was whispered in the Taoiseach's ear. I do not know if it came out the way he said it to the Taoiseach but what the Taoiseach said was distinctly odd. I said the Government should go to the European Investment Bank and take out a loan to provide the infrastructural fund because the demand around the country is approximately four times the available sum of €200 million. I think everyone who is interested in housing would agree on that. If some councils are gilding the lily a very smart Minister of State such as Deputy Damien English would be able to spot that a mile off. What the Taoiseach said in his reply-----

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