Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not think myself or Deputy Ellis are good at drawing but we could show the Minister on a map where he could put this housing.

There are 2,000 extra homes. However, there are many other sites in all of the Dublin county areas, as well as in other cities and large towns around the country, which are zoned residential but which are awaiting pre-construction servicing. This is one area, whether for affordable or private housing, where the measures have been so modest that at times they are utterly disappointing. I remember as Tánaiste getting a large tranche of money, agreed by the Government in budgets 2014 and 2015, to provide for necessary infrastructures such as roads, water and sewerage services into sites to develop them. This Government has slowed down on all of that. It has not pushed the boat out to achieve scale.

A Government advisory body has urged action on one important matter, namely, the use of publicly owned land for building homes. There is a substantial amount of such land in State ownership previously used, for example, in town and city centres for docks and rail depots. Again, the Government has fallen behind in having the energy and leadership to actually unlock these assets which can be used to solve this problem. On the corner of Molesworth Street and on Dawson Street, for example, there are three stunning large office building developments which have been completed on a massive scale. They have been built and are ready for occupation in two years. How is the private sector able to do that? I accept it has to do with finance capital but I could show Members other examples all over the city. Frawley's on Thomas Street is now being redone for student accommodation and it is flying along. There are enormous sites on Dominick Street and in O'Devaney Gardens owned by Dublin City Council which were basically levelled ten to 12 years ago. I take the Luas to look at Dominick Street and it drives me mad every time I pass by it. People had proposals approximately three years ago to develop an urban garden there. I was told by the Minister’s predecessor that machines would be on site. I have yet to see one. I am waiting for the day when I can spot construction starting on those sites. O'Devaney Gardens is beside the Phoenix Park and is probably one of the best sites for housing in Europe. It is lying idle, having been knocked for ten to 12 years. It is entirely in the ownership of the city council. I know I have raised this repeatedly but until some Minister is able to say why this has been left, I will not believe in the Government's real determination to show leadership and build and develop to the scale required.

If one was to look back at our recent history, owning a home was a given in Ireland for most families earning the average industrial wage and above.

In a way, I do not believe we have thought about the fact that we are actually moving away from that. It applies to people on higher incomes where two in the family are working, and this has consequences for childcare and so on. Many Members know about this personally. This has now become the model.

Renting on a permanent basis has been a fact for people on lower incomes in all towns and village throughout Ireland down the generations. Again, the Government seems to have abandoned this model and not enough is being developed. There may be some building in small rural villages. That is altogether welcome but previously there would have been sufficient supply for an expanding population. In economic terms, our expanding population is one of the best things we have with regard to our position as a small open economy trying to make its way in the world.

House purchases were used by people to supplement pensions and perhaps to leave something for their children or to pay for nursing home care in older age and so on. That model is disappearing except for people in the top quintiles of income. Again, I believe we have given insufficient thought to that. We know the financial crisis of 2008 led to the collapse of the banks and the construction industry. That has changed all of the assumptions.

What about the teacher married to the nurse? Such people are going to be between 35 and 38 years of age before they can buy a house together. What are the social consequences? This is one of the anomalies at the moment. In financial terms, if such a couple could buy a house, their mortgage would be cheaper than their rent. I am unsure whether the Government has considered that problem, but that is absurd in the context of the long-term sustainability of our particular model of people as stakeholders in their society. What about two gardaí setting up home together? That profile seems to have vanished as well.

A series of clear points arise in the context of this Bill. The most important is the need for a recipe to bring together the issues of finance, land, construction and especially construction training. We are not training anywhere near enough apprentices for the building industry. The building industry is actually moving to a more skilled pre-built model throughout the world. Yet, we are simply not at the races in that regard. I appeal to the Government to use this opportunity to try to think about the areas where it can improve.

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