Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the motion. Everyone knows that there is a housing crisis, especially in the major cities. Approximately one year ago, I proposed a points system, which other countries have used, as it may attract people to move to other areas. They may not want to go to there long-term but they would get points that would give them priority on the housing list in an area they wanted when a house became available. We should examine that as an option.

We can speak here every night about housing but the fact is that this crisis will not be resolved happen overnight. There is no point in saying otherwise. Houses do not go up in a matter of days. We have to make sure, however, that we have a way to do it. The Department may be good at policy, with many documents having been published, and councils may be good at planning, but one thing is missing, which is delivery and knowing how to build houses fast. This is a huge problem.

There is another problem and it is happening in our own neck of the woods in the west of Ireland. Some of the councils did not put in for enough money to the Department. It is embarrassing that those things happen when we need to ensure that there is delivery of houses.

A genuine effort to speed up things is needed. We have seen all the paperwork and all the different policies for the past number of years but houses are not being put on the ground. Unless we ramp that up fast, we will see more of the problem. Further, during the formation of Government talks, I put forward a proposal about colleges borrowing money to build student accommodation, which would alleviate a bit, not all, of the problem in many cities. At long last, and it was only today or yesterday that it came to fruition, I see that they are starting to do it in Galway, but it needs to be ramped up. A huge amount of land available on many of these colleges. They can facilitate the youngsters and thereby help those who are in trouble with homelessness.

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