Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

If the Taoiseach examines the vacant site levy, he will see that the penalties for not building are so minuscule that it will pay the people to continue to sit on land and watch the price increase. Every time the price of a house goes up by 10%, the price of the land goes up by a minimum of 30%. In the past three years, 26 houses have been built in Wexford; that is seven per year. It is not happening. The Government has brought out so many measures at this stage we have lost count of them.

In 2016, NAMA sold Project Abbey, the loan portfolio of developer Harcourt Developments, for €300 million. Before it did so, NAMA took out 72 acres of the land and boasted at the housing committee that it would be used for housing. That sounded great, but last week we discovered that it has just turned around and done a deal with the very same developer to build X number of houses. That developer is getting his land back and he will make a fortune on it. The houses in question will not be available at an affordable price for people.

From 2010 to 2016, the average cost of new homes in Dublin increased by 62%, that is, from €284,000 to €461,000. In November last year, the then Minister, Deputy Coveney, confirmed the cost of a three-bedroom house from the local authority was €205,000 in Dublin and €154,000 outside Dublin. Where in God's name is the logic of engaging the private sector to supply housing in the private market for people who cannot afford it? The State can do so. It has got to use the local authorities much more than it is proposing to do at present. It is possible to provide social and affordable housing to people who need it.

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