Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will take three minutes or so each.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this motion, which was tabled by my colleague, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. When one drills down into it, the principle is a basic one: people who want and are willing to provide for themselves cannot do so because their incomes do not match the cost of a house. When people seek a mortgage to purchase the house they want to buy, they are told that their income is at such a level that any mortgage they might be given will not allow them to buy it. In my constituency of Kildare North, a three-bedroom semi-detached house probably costs in the region of €260,000 to €270,000.

An interesting statistic on which there has been no discussion is that couples or individuals who, in light of their income-to-house price ratios, have been refused mortgages because of their inability to repay them are actually paying far more in monthly rents than their mortgages would ever be. Rents are increasing year on year or, in some cases, month on month. People are paying €1,300, €1,400 or €1,500 per month in rent and are still being told they would be unable to repay a mortgage.

We must examine people's ability to pay and factor that into the consideration of house prices and mortgage approval. If a person has been paying a high rent for two or three years, that should be factored into a consideration of his or her ability to pay in order to help them access funds to purchase a home and get onto the property ladder.

The home loan programme is not working. The statistics pertaining to my county show that more applications are being refused than granted. That initiative is not assisting positively in any way in getting people into their own homes.

Council-owned land banks, of which there are many around the country, have been mentioned. Land owned by councils that is zoned residential could be developed through Government borrowing at the close to 0% interest rate it can access on the European markets, which compares very favourably to the interest rates available from the private sector and commercial banks. The development of that land, which is owned and in the trust of the State, utilising borrowing at that low interest rate could assist in making properties more affordable if it is done in an appropriate way. That is an opportunity of which the State is not taking ownership.

As was stated earlier, the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, which I have discussed with the Minister, Deputy Murphy, and the Minister of State, Deputy English, is far too slow. I acknowledge that it is not geared towards delivering affordable housing but, rather, opening up land to deliver housing stock, which is also important.

I listened to the Sinn Féin contribution to this debate while in my office. I will not take any lectures from Sinn Féin about confidence and supply, supporting Government and having an input into the delivery of housing. Two and a half years ago, Sinn Féin had the opportunity to enter Government but it ran for three months and stated that it would not consider forming a government unless it were the lead party in that government. There was little hope of that. I also listened to the lecture delivered by Deputy Jan O'Sullivan. The best housing policy the Labour Party put in place was the creation of the housing assistance payment, HAP, which was actually a transfer list designed to reduce the housing list and make the statistics look better so that the Labour Party could pretend to the electorate that it was dealing with housing lists when it was not so doing. We should not take any lectures on housing from those parties.

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