Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

This motion was proposed by the Labour Party. That party was in government and Deputy Kelly was Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government for a long time, yet they built nothing. It is all about supply. It is not about demonising landlords as happens so much of the time here. There might be a few rogue landlords, maybe a good few. The vast majority of landlords, however, are decent people trying to make a living and we need them in the market, as Deputy Michael Collins said. We need incentives to ensure that they make properties available. We have to have legislation that is quite strict to regulate them. There is no place for rogue landlords. For people to get on the property ladder, however, they need to start in rented accommodation.

The county councils are failing utterly to deliver houses. A report this morning was found to have doubled the figures. The Minister of State, Deputy English is in the Chamber. They are including turnkey units as delivery. We must get the county councils building and looking after people like they always did. What is wrong with them that they are failing to have enough properties?

During the negotiations on the programme for Government, I asked the then Minister, Deputy Noonan, if he would change the VAT rate for people to allow them, where shops had closed, to convert them back into living units. Then we would have living towns and we would ease the housing problem. It was just a matter of wiping off the VAT but the Minister said he could not do that because the builders would get a bonanza. It could be given to the end user, the person who does up the property, the small builder or property owner, not developers.

There is this frenzy that developers are bad. We need to have a very proactive examination of this. Putting in conditions such as rent controls does not work. We need a supply of houses on the market. The State is failing utterly to do this. The Minister of State, Deputy English and the Labour Party Minister before him have failed utterly even to recognise this. They have been caught out this morning again with falsifying figures for what has been built.

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