Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am grateful to have the opportunity to speak on housing. I thank Solidarity-People Before Profit for bringing forward this motion. We need immediate action to tackle this problem. The majority of those becoming homeless are in the private rental sector. I refer to huge numbers of my constituents from Bandon, Kilbrittain, Ballinspittle, Ballinadee, Dunmanway, Skibbereen, Leap and Goleen. The list is endless. People are unable to get on the property ladder and have to resort to paying huge rents. It has nearly come to the point that renting is more expensive than paying a monthly mortgage.

Why are we not doing more to encourage people to afford and own their own homes? During the negotiations relating to A Programme for a Partnership Government, we discussed a rural resettlement scheme. Depopulation is a worrying trend in rural communities. They do not stand still - they either develop or decline. As the housing crisis in our towns and cities worsens, there has never been a better time to promote rural resettlement. This scheme has been rolled out in County Clare and elsewhere. Can the scheme be applied to west Cork? I refer to areas such as Ballineen, Drinagh, Drimoleague, Curragh, Ballydehob, Crookhaven and Durrus. That is to name only a few of the areas affected by diminishing populations. We have seen the closure of schools, post offices, Garda stations and local businesses and we need to take action to bring people into these areas. Most of them have wonderful community playgrounds and community centres. Let us promote what these areas have to offer, encourage people to live in them areas and ensure that they can afford to do so.

There needs to be a plan put in place to source and build affordable housing in rural communities. That would enable urban-based families to move to rural areas through a resettlement scheme. The benefits of country living are endless. Those living in small rural communities tend to have a strong sense of identity and a pride of place. Children would be able to attend rural primary schools where everyone knows each other and class sizes are small. That would also promote the importance of keeping schools open in rural areas such as those in west Cork. Rural resettlement needs to be explored and promoted. It is time that the Government listened and took real action.

Young couples are also seeking planning permission. I see that the length and breadth of my own constituency. Everything - every fence and ditch - is put in people's way. It prevents them from getting planning permission, forces them onto the social housing list and gives them no other choice. We find out now that it is an absolute nightmare for people in my constituency to get money from the new Rebuilding Ireland loans scheme, which was supposed to cure all problems. I was convinced or fooled and I advised people, through my constituency office, to make sure to go for these loans. Hardworking young people are trying to make a start and they are finding out now that over 50% of them cannot get the money in the first instance.

We are conning people continuously. It is either through planning permission or through false promises of council housing or social housing coming on stream. They are being let down repeatedly by this Minister of State. He has to stand up here for once and tell the truth. The Government is not acting on behalf of the people, whether that is in a rural resettlement scheme or the planning permission to give people a home to start off their life in. They are being continuously let down by this Government. It has turned its back on them. It cannot continue to do that. I ask the Minister of State to stand by the people and do something for them. He should not to go down the road of fooling them with new loan schemes that are not there. The loans in question are certainly not available to the people I represent.

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