Pat Casey (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This Bill is a practical, common sense and constructive measure that forms part of Fianna Fáil's determined focus to provide workable solutions to the housing crisis. The radical increase in the supply of homes for the thousands of families who require them needs constant crisis management by Government. Fianna Fáil's approach to this national crisis is to be proactive and the Bill is reflective of our analysis that the housing crisis can be fixed if political capital and policy formulation is relentless in its application. I ask any Member of this House to walk down the main street of any city, town or village in their constituency and to look above the shop fronts. How many are occupied? How many lie vacant and dark while outside, on our streets, people are sleeping in the doorways of those shop fronts and working families are putting their children to beds in hotel rooms?

Dublin City Council, which is the ground zero of the housing and homelessness crisis, has identified 4,000 vacant units over commercial properties. Nationally, we estimate that more than 20,000 additional homes for families could be provided reasonably quickly if the Bill is adopted. One of the key reasons so many vacant units exist is the bureaucratic nightmare that owners of such properties face when they attempt to refurbish these spaces into homes. It takes up to five months to get the various permissions, certifications and applications approved, if not longer. Planning, disabled access, fire certification, building control, commencement notices and monitoring are all necessary to ensure basic standards of accommodation. However, for each of these items to be handled separately is nonsense. In the context of a national housing crisis, it is simply a failure of public service that cannot be allowed to continue.

The Bill will essentially allow a one-stop-shop to be established. It will process all these applications in a timely and co-ordinated manner. We can reduce a planning application system that lasts months, and which can drain the money, energy and determination needed to get on top of this crisis, to one that concludes within a two week period. The incentive to property owners is obvious, but within two weeks each property owner or the builder or architect will have secured all the permissions needed to convert these units into homes. This is a real incentive to those property owners to be proactive in realising the full potential of their properties, particularly those in urban areas but also those in towns and villages. In my constituency of Wicklow, there are many properties in Arklow, Wicklow town and Bray that can avail of the these legislative changes and opportunities. They are also in smaller towns such as Blessington, Baltinglass and Rathdrum and villages such as Aughrim, Carnew and Shillelagh.

The only possible opposition that anyone could have to the Bill is the argument that somehow accommodation standards would be compromised. The Bill addresses that argument head on and puts in place vital and independent improvements to the maintenance of accommodation standards. Let me be clear: the Bill enshrines the requirement not only that standards are maintained but that properties are independently inspected. This is an improvement to the building and safety standards that exist today. The independent inspectorate, which will be accountable to the local authority, will remove the problematic financial link that exists currently between developer and certifier. This has resulted in substandard accommodation being certified, with disastrous results for all involved when discovered. This independent inspectorate will not only ensure that safety, planning and building standards are maintained but will provide a level of expertise in the provision of this type of above-shop accommodation that is welcome and needed.

It is my view that the Bill is a substantial step in the urban renewal of every city, town and village in Ireland. Our urban centres have far too long been simply seen as commercial and recreational spaces.

The ideal model for urban spaces globally, both large and small, is mixed-use urban centres. Main streets should encompass commercial and recreational use but, crucially, also have living spaces in which people can make a home. The Bill will go some way towards helping Ireland to achieve that goal.

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