Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 3:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:“notes that:

— the Government has responded to the current housing crisis with a comprehensive range of actions, policy initiatives and increased investments, as outlined in the Rebuilding Ireland Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness, the Strategy for the Rental Sector and other relevant policies and actions, with the aim of increasing and accelerating supply across all housing tenures, and providing increased targeted supports for households in need, especially those in emergency accommodation or at risk of becoming homeless;

— while it recognises the rights conferred by the Constitution of Ireland on private property, the Government has already taken steps to balance these rights with targeted interventions and proportionate measures that impact on these rights in the interests of the common good;

— a range of such policy interventions are already in force, including:

— provisions under Part V of the Planning and Development Acts to cede a percentage, currently ten per cent, of residentially zoned and permitted land for social housing provision;

— compulsory purchase powers that enable public bodies to acquire lands or properties for housing purposes;

— the introduction of a Vacant Site Levy as a charge on vacant or underutilised housing lands in urban areas to incentivise their development or redevelopment and the announcement in Budget 2018 that the Levy will be more than doubled to seven per cent per annum from 2019;

— the designation of Rent Pressure Zones where time-bound limits are applied to rent increases in the private rental sector, justified on the basis of providing greater rent predictability and certainty to both tenants and landlords in an imbalanced and dysfunctional rental market; and

— restrictions on the termination of tenancies in multi-unit developments where the property owner/landlord is seeking to sell (known as the ‘Tyrrelstown Amendment’);

— the Government continues to monitor and assess the need for further targeted and proportionate measures, in consultation with the Attorney General, that may impact on property rights but which are merited in the interests of restoring balance to the housing market and meeting the overall housing needs of our population; and

— the Eighth Report of the Convention on the Constitution has already been referred to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, for consideration of issues regarding social, economic and cultural rights from a Constitutional point of view, and this provides an opportunity for further consideration of housing rights issues, and an opportunity will be provided for Dáil Éireann to debate the Committee’s report in due course.”

I thank Deputy Healy for tabling the motion. I do not doubt his sincerity, frustration or compassion for the citizens who most need our help. The Government is opposing the motion and has put forward an amendment to explain why that is so. In opposing the motion, the Government does not disagree that we are dealing with a serious crisis or an emergency, if one wants to call it that. However, it should be recognised that we have been dealing with the challenge for some time and progress is being made. That is why almost 18 months ago the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government was reconstituted as the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and a senior Minister was given responsibility for housing. That was not a simple rebrand. Most of the former Department's functions in regard to the environment were reallocated to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. As Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government with additional responsibility for Irish Water and emergency planning such as in the case of Storm Ophelia, much of my work is dedicated solely to housing and homelessness. That is why much of the State's capital spend since 2016 and up to 2021 will go into housing and homelessness, involving a commitment of more than €6 billion over the period of Rebuilding Ireland, which is well under way and is working. Members will compare our current capital spend on housing with that which pertained in 2008. I remind those Members that was before an economic recession caused by an unsustainable level of public investment, over-reliance on property-related cyclical taxes and an economy over-concentrated on building development. It beggars belief that some Members still do not understand the massive failure by the then Government.

I have said before that I am not opposed to declaring that there is a housing emergency but only if such declaration would be more than tokenistic and could lead to powers we do not already have that would fix our housing and homelessness problem. I began discussion of that issue with the Attorney General almost immediately upon taking office. The motion seeks to declare an emergency and in so doing suspend or delimit certain parts of the Constitution that deal with individual property rights. We cannot just suspend certain elements of the Constitution by decree or through legislation. If it was decided that could be done, it would set an incredibly dangerous precedent. While it might be done for just reasons today, someone could come along and do it for unjust reasons tomorrow. Our duty of care is not just to the current circumstances and generation but to those who will follow. Even if the Deputy feels that his motion would meet the Howlin test, if one wants to call it that, Members must ask if it is necessary.What would we do differently? How are individual property rights currently getting in the way of the public interest in terms of building more homes or tackling the homelessness crisis? They are not. A balance can be found between the individual good and the public good. We can do, and are doing, that within the parameters of the Constitution.

The Government has several powers and has improved upon them in some instances. There is a role for compulsory purchase orders, CPOs, which are used in housing not just to acquire strategic land but also to tackle vacancy. Some local authorities have been more ambitious than others in that regard. That is why at the housing summit in September there was an exploration of CPO powers and local authorities were tasked with using their powers in a more streamlined, co-ordinated and practical way. The designation of rent pressure zones where limits are applied to rent increases in the private rental sector is another example of the public interest overriding the private. Bringing in definitions for "substantial refurbishment" under the rent zones extends those principles. Restrictions on the termination of tenancies in multi-unit developments where the property owner or landlord is seeking to sell, known as the Tyrrelstown amendment, again promote the public interest over the private interest. The introduction of a vacant site levy or the charge on vacant or under-utilised housing lands to incentivise their development also favours the public interest over the private, and the announcement in budget 2018 that the level will more than double to 7% per year from 2019 further strengthens that measure. Provisions under Part V of the Planning and Development Acts to ensure a percentage, which is currently 10%, of residentially-zoned land is used for social housing also seek to provide for the public good over private or individual right to property. We can promote the public interest over individual property rights within the Constitution and are doing so. The chief executive of Dublin City Council recently said that he feared property interests are holding the city to ransom in terms of its potential for future development and blocking higher densities that would promote a better and more integrated increase in the capacity of the city for its residents. I agree with that. We will seek further changes to promote the more sustainable development of cities, and urban centres in particular. To seek further change to the Constitution or legislative amendment that I do not believe necessary and which may not be possible, acceptable to the public or even in the public interest would take our attention and resources away from getting the actual work done, and good work is being done.

Four times more social housing homes will be built directly by the State this year than in 2015. There is no lack of political will on this issue. That responsibility was previously outsourced but the Government is taking it back. One does not get there by doing nothing or without a plan. One amendment to the motion states that fewer than 600 new social homes will be constructed in 2017 but that is simply wrong. When the Government established a Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, appointed a dedicated senior Minister to it and the former Minister, Deputy Coveney, put in place the Rebuilding Ireland plan we started to make progress in dealing with the housing shortage and developing solutions for the homeless. Rebuilding Ireland is working. Planning permissions and commencement notices are up almost 50% since the plan came into force. As I said, this year the Government will directly build four times more social housing homes through local authorities and housing bodies than it did in 2015. It will provide social housing supports to 80 new tenancies every working day of the week this year and that will increase to 98 next year. Rent inflation is on course to be half what it was in 2016 in areas where the pressure caps are in place. The number of homeless families in hotels fell for the first time in many months in Dublin in August and we are determined for that trend to continue. That did not happen by accident but as a result of Government policy that was criticised and opposed by others in the House. It happened in conjunction with local authorities, approved housing bodies, various stakeholders and experts in the industry, the Housing Agency, the Housing Finance Agency, the Rental Tenancies Board and the voluntary sector and many fine NGOs that are working with the Government and on behalf of citizens. A huge amount of work is being done. The resources of the State and our people are being brought to bear to face this challenge and to overcome it.

That does not mean that we cannot and should not do more. We are doing more. The number of children in emergency accommodation demands that we do so. One does not set the wheels of any important work in motion and get out of the car as that is not how one ensures things get done. That is why I decided we need to constantly monitor and review the housing and homelessness crisis. It does not aim to make wholesale changes to the plan because people need certainty but, rather, to identify where changes could improve or expedite elements of it. Rebuilding Ireland does not need to be restarted but it needs to be steered in the right direction and certain things need to be speeded up. By 2021, which will mark the end of Rebuilding Ireland, 50,000 new homes will have been provided under it. In its closing years, more homes will be provided through direct build than the housing assistance payment, which will put us in a very strong position to continue in that direction in 2021 and to rebalance housing provision away from the private sector and toward a stronger responsibility for the Government to provide social housing for the citizens who need our help the most.

As I keep Rebuilding Ireland under review and make improvements or changes to policy, I will announce them. That is what Members should concern themselves with rather than what they read in newspapers or what might be happening according to unnamed sources. They should pay attention to what the Government announces. If certain parties did so they would not have missed that I announced the social housing figures for 2018 at the housing summit in September rather than wait for the budget. I was quite happy that the main criticism of the housing budget from some on the left was that the Government announced its new targets for 2018 four weeks early. Some 30% more homes will be built directly by the State than was originally planned by Rebuilding Ireland but some Members tried to claim the targets did not change. The number of new builds next year will be almost double those this year but some Members have tried to claim that no new social housing homes will be built next year. Almost 8,000 new social housing homes will be added to the stock in 2018 when one includes long-term leases. Some say it should be 10,000 and I do not disagree. We will get there but, unfortunately, that will not be next year.

Some Members say I should not make announcements but, rather, should just get on with the work. There is a problem with that. If the repair and lease scheme needs to be amended, I have to announce that and cannot keep it to myself. If there is to be an affordability scheme, as there is, I must announce that people will be able to access it. I will keep doing the work but when I make changes to policy I will announce them because that is important for transparency.

It was important that we announced the new An Bord Pleanála fast-track process for large-scale developments when it was signed into force. It was important to announce that we were bringing forward new legislation to allow for a second extension of planning permissions where people were already building homes. We brought in this extension before the summer recess. It was important to announce the fire and life safety inspections of all social housing tenancies. This was extended to the private rental sector. It was important to announce the measures that came out of the housing summit, for example, the exit co-ordinators put in place, the additional money for hubs, the new inter-agency group to co-ordinate homelessness supports, the 30% increase in direct build for our targets for next year and the setting up of a national director of Housing First and more Housing First homes. It was also important to announce that we will have a change management programme for the Residential Tenancies Board to make it a strong regulator for the sector and that we will have new apartment guidelines for the build-to-rent sector. It was important to announce the new targets under Rebuilding Ireland out to 2021, the additional €75 million for affordable homes and affordable schemes, the increase in the vacant sites levy and the new finance vehicle for builders. All these announcements are not just empty statements. They are actions that people in this House called for. This is exactly the approach I said I would take - no more plans or roadmaps because we have them and they are guiding us successfully, but yes, new actions. I hope the House does not have a problem with me taking action and I hope they do not think I should keep these actions to myself.

I know it is very difficult now for many people, not just the rough sleepers or the families in emergency accommodation. People throughout the country are feeling squeezed because of the cost of their rent or the difficulty they have saving for a mortgage, and this at a time when most economic indicators tell us that it should not be so difficult. The human indicators tell a different story. We will continue to act in the public interest, as this motion calls on us to do, and as the Government amendment reaffirms.

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