Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are a number of small things that could be done to help sort out much of the homelessness problem. Some genius decided that bedsits could not be used anymore, while fortunes are being paid to hotels to house people and people are still lying on the ground close to the hotel where I stay for two or three days every week. I am sure they would be much happier in a bedsit. I am not saying that all bedsits were perfect but some were fine and they would give shelter to people. The rule preventing bedsits must be reviewed.

There are big grants for the repair and lease scheme, which is a fine scheme but the councils tell us it will only be available where there is a demand for social housing. It should be extended to towns and villages where there is no pressure for social housing. The home improvement grant suits some people, notably PAYE workers, but not others such as sole traders or private operators. It should be expanded to include more people if we are serious about addressing homelessness. Yesterday I asked about reducing the age for grant aid for the elderly to 50, to help the people of whom I spoke.

As regards social housing, in Kerry there are 5,000 on the list. I do not agree with Deputy Mattie McGrath's assertion that local authorities have lost their way when it comes to building houses. There are too many hoops to jump through and stipulations by the Department for people to get planning permission for even a rural cottage. That is wrong. As I said to the former Taoiseach, when one goes too far east around the globe, one comes back again to the west. That is what has happened.

Some 82% of people who apply for the tenant purchase scheme are not successful. This deprives people on pensions from buying out the house in which they have lived for 40 or 50 years. They may come into a bit of money, perhaps by way of a lump sum, and they would like to buy out their house and stay there for their remaining days but they are being denied that opportunity in the new tenant purchase scheme. This must be looked at.

The former Minister, Deputy Coveney, said in Tralee that pensioners who went back to live with their offspring and left a vacant house could lease that house, but if they do that their pension will be taken off them. They do not want to sell the house to someone else as they may want to go back to live there so something needs to be done in this regard. There are many such houses lying around.

For private builders, €80,000 of the total cost of €210,000 for building a house goes in VAT and levies to the local authority. Something needs to be done about that to kickstart private builders into building more. At the moment they cannot make a profit with all the regulations and red tape. It would get more builders building and more people working. The Minister should look at these suggestions if he is serious about reducing housing lists. They are small but they will help a lot.

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