Dáil debates

Wednesday, 27 September 2017

Housing: Motion [Private Members]

 

5:50 pm

Photo of Pat CaseyPat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

All of the evidence and data point to the fact that the housing and homelessness crisis is getting worse. It is depressing, a scandal and wrong. What frustrates me most is a first-time Deputy is that it does not need to be this way. I have stated repeatedly that this Dáil will be judged on its response to the housing crisis. I have not changed that view. In fact, I consider that both Parliament and the Executive will be judged on our response to housing.

As we stand here again tonight, I take no pleasure in stating that we are failing the Irish people in the politics of housing policy. It is now obvious that our Fine Gael-led Government does not get the seriousness of the crisis. The reason for that was demonstrated perfectly in the Chamber yesterday when the Taoiseach outlined his and his party's views on property rights. The Fine Gael view is that this is a temporary crisis that requires minimum intervention before we return to a market-based speculative treatment of housing. This view is wrong in its analysis and it is the reason Fine Gael's attempts to resolve the housing crisis have been too timid and have failed in every pillar of a well-spun but poorly delivered Rebuilding Ireland. Fianna Fáil's position is radically different. We have learned the lessons of the past and the key lesson on housing is that the State, whose representatives are elected by and accountable to the people, must have permanent control, oversight and responsibility for ensuring that there are homes for all.

The basic starting point is the European norm. In Europe, the norm is public and affordable housing supply, as well as affordable ownership and rental homes. This constitutes a key responsibility of most European states, which are proactive in housing provision. Fianna Fáil's response will involve moving the Irish State, through central and local government, permanently into this space. We should do this responsibly but also radically through sustainable funding, both on and off-balance sheet, for the building of social and affordable homes for rent and purchase by working families. We want to ensure that local authorities and the Department are empowered and resourced, not only to deliver these homes but, crucially, to manage them into the future.

The investment required in housing supply is massive and far beyond what the private sector can manage. Investment in our housing stock must be considered in the context of managing that investment and ensuring that the quality of new housing is such that we spend public moneys not only with a view to addressing an urgent social need but also to the economic and long-term strategic return for the taxpayer. It is vital in the context of the State's role in housing that publicly-owned land is retained for public investment in housing. It is wrong to provide public lands to private developers for the construction of private housing. It makes no investment sense whatsoever. The State has enough land to build significant numbers of mixed-tenure housing units. We have a unique asset at our disposal and we can build homes for all sectors in crisis, namely, the social and affordable and affordable rent sectors.

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