Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

1 o’clock

We have housing crisis because excessive Governments, including the Minister's, have had a neoliberal philosophy which determined that the Government could not build houses directly. Year after year, in my experience as a councillor, the Government suspended housing construction programmes. The Minister asked me to be straight. I am being straight. Could the Minister deal with it in his reply?

Since 2009, we have not built a single social house in Galway, although houses were built under the voluntary schemes. One must ask why. The reason given was that funding had been suspended. Since then, we still have not built a house. There are plans to build houses and, if we are lucky, we might get 14 this year. Why was no house built during that period of time? Can the Minister acknowledge that by not building houses and balancing the market, the Government is actively contributing to and conniving with the housing crisis? Would the Minister admit it?

I agree with Deputy Seamus Healy on the need for the Government to declare a national emergency. He has asked for it as have I and other Dáil colleagues. Although there is a national housing emergency, the Government has not declared it. In Galway city, up to 15,000 people have been waiting since 2002. That is a crisis, and it is repeated throughout the country. In response, the Government is introducing a rental strategy which will worsen the situation. The Government has not done a proper analysis in the first place.

Before the Minister interrupted, I started to say that as I speak, applicants for housing in Galway city are receiving letters from the city council telling them that they must sign up to the HAP scheme and fill out the form by Friday, 13 January, symbolically. They are being told they have no choice but to sign up to the HAP scheme, that it is the only game in town. The legislation brought in by the previous Government, which this Government supports and has left in place, stipulates that once a person has received a HAP, the person is considered to be adequately housed and is removed from the housing waiting list.

If the person is lucky, depending on the local authority, his or her name is put on a transfer list. We have legislation that says the only game in town is HAP and that people must be removed from the waiting list, so the Government can say the housing list is being reduced. Nobody knows what legal status applicants on the transfer list have. It is entirely separate from the existing transfer list to transfer for overcrowding, etc. Although I have repeatedly asked the Minister to clarify this, it has not been clarified. How can we have legislation that says if a person is in receipt of a HAP, he or she is adequately housed and yet retain a legal responsibility to house the person? Tá rud amháin ag teacht salach ar an rud eile.

I have a specific question on the Housing Agency, which was established as an independent body in 2010. Could the Minister answer me, given that it is particularly important to me? Since 2010, has the Housing Agency ever reported back to the Minister about the growing housing crisis? Has it made suggestions to the Minister? Its vision is "to enable everyone to live in good quality, affordable homes in sustainable communities". Its mission is "to be housing experts driven by an understanding of the central role housing plays in people's quality of life and life changes". Its values are "independent influence-----

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