Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is just Deputy Connolly as Deputy Collins is not about. I thank the Ceann Comhairle very much for the welcome back. It is good to be here but, unfortunately, some things never change. That is a bit depressing. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion tonight because it is important. First of all, it is interesting to look at some of the amendments to the motion as proposed because they are interesting in many ways. Fianna Fáil see this as a moral issue, which is gas coming from Fianna Fáil. Fine Gael is definitely continuing the housing crisis that Fianna Fáil started as a moral campaign. Then we have the Labour Party, which has suddenly seen that there should be legislation on the compensation paid by local authorities for land bought. We would be forgiven for thinking that if it was in government, it would have passed such legislation. It was in government though and it did not do anything on it, yet now it is championing it.

The Government might even argue that there is no need to do anything, based on its publications on the issue, especially the summary of social housing assessments 2017.

If that was the source of one's information, there would actually be no problem at all. According to the document, for example, there were only 903 families on the housing list in Donegal in 2017, down from 1,267 in 2016. So what are we talking about? There is no problem. What the Government does not bother telling anyone, however, is that these figures do not include HAP tenants, whose needs have apparently been met. Unfortunately, that is the issue. The Government does not see that there is a problem. People "choose" to be homeless. Ministers have stated that this is a common crisis in other countries, so we should therefore just accept the situation. That is the Government's mantra.

This motion is about getting the Government to accept that there is a problem so that it can be addressed. That is not what the Government sees, though. One line from its response says it all, in that the Government "welcomes the progress made in 2017, when almost 26,000 households had their social housing needs met". That is amazing. It would be lovely to see where this happened.

While I agree with the motion's intention to deliver homes via affordable houses that people could buy through schemes, existing houses could be used. I would like to see houses that are lying empty around the country used. We have all seen the relevant figures. Some put the number at over 3,000 in Dublin alone, yet families here are living in hotels. Apparently, AIB had 713 houses on its books at the end of 2016. As far as I know, we own that bank. Surely those houses could have been made available for people in need, but they could not because that would have reduced the cost of houses in the State and thereby affect the value of the bank, and we could not have that.

The Government is paying lipservice to all social housing and affordable housing is no exception. We hear all of the fancy talk and see plans being launched, but we do not see anything happening on the ground except for reports being manipulated. Listening to the Minister's contribution this evening, it seems that we will have even more lipservice and no action. Everything is being considered and nothing is actually being done.

The only way we can ensure that something is done is to get rid of Fine Gael from government and make sure that it is not replaced by Fianna Fáil. We might then see some progress.

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