Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Sad to say, Ireland's housing and homelessness crisis has almost become one of those apparently unsolvable problems that we hear about every day. It is frightening to think how normalised hearing about men, women and children who have no home to call their own has become. Lest we as a society become immune to hearing the stories that I hear every day in my constituency of Kildare South, and I have no doubt every public representative hears the same stories in their own constituencies, I believe our housing crisis should be declared a national emergency. While I believe priority should be given to those who currently do not have housing and who are trying to get on the housing ladder, we must bear in mind the impact of the crisis on the drive to attract foreign direct investment, especially in the light of Brexit.

In May 2014, 350 families were homeless, yet today, a mere four years later, the number is almost 2,000. This is going to increase not just every year, every month or every week but every day. We must boost social housing supply. On average, when Fianna Fáil was in power, 4,700 social houses were built every year. In the first three years of the Fine Gael-led Government, an average of 413 social houses were built. Much of the blame regarding why there has not been more social housing seems to be put on the local authorities. My definitive understanding, certainly in Kildare, is that the Department is just not approving social housing projects for local authorities and voluntary housing bodies. It is just tied up in red tape and bureaucracy. The fact that public procurement takes two years within the Department is a scandal.

However, this cannot just be about social housing. We cannot allow home ownership become the sole preserve of a few. Every hard-working family deserves the chance to buy its own place and to make a home. We cannot allow that dream to fade away because families and communities will suffer as a result of that uncertainty.

I am glad my party is supporting this Bill. There are a number of elements we must put in place in terms of making sure we have a viable supply of housing and this is certainly one of them. Strengthening the vacant site levy system is vital to ensuring we have a vital and functioning housing market. The current system, which has a number of loopholes, is clearly not working. The fact that a significant amount of State-owned land is on the register underlines the need for the State to launch an effective affordable housing scheme on its own land. We must ramp up the vacant site system, which appears to be ineffective, and set out new tools to incentivise development and curb land speculation.

Since coming to power, Fine Gael has launched six separate plans. That does not even count the numerous re-launches of those six plans. More housing plans have been launched by Fine Gael than the number of actual social houses built in 13 local authorities last year. House building numbers are tens of thousands behind what was originally claimed. Government figures overstated completions by nearly 60%. We must support this Bill.

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