Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Perhaps that is what is wrong, but I will tell the truth wherever I am, be it here, there or anywhere. One will always win out with the truth.

I am sceptical about the €20 million figure, but the Government could take simple actions. For example, it could help small builders by reducing the VAT rate from 13.5% to 9%, which would achieve a great deal. Other blockages are preventing small builders from building houses. If a house costs €200,000, the Government will receive more than €40,000 in VAT and levies. With the purchaser of the house paying 3.5%, the Government will receive up to €55,000 in taxes, bringing the total to more than one quarter of the overall amount.

Developers were classed together in a bundle as a bad lot, but that was not true. Of course, there were a few rotten apples, but, by and large, most builders, especially the smaller ones, always served the country well. A few years ago there were four staged payments. A builder was paid when he or she brought a house to floor level, to wall plate level, to roof level and on completion. In that way, builders were able to finance their activities and the Government would not need this €20 million which is "expected to be provided".

The Government could do something about the issue. We all accept that some houses were not built to a proper standard, but local authorities now have building control units and houses must be built to the standard set and in accordance with planning permission. The Government could take that route, instead of pursuing yet another idea that will not work. By the time the small developer or builder accesses the money, he or she will have been put through so many hoops that there will be a bush in the gap and the people waiting on the house will be very cold if they do not have somewhere else to stay.

We saw what happened with the repair and lease scheme. It was only made available where there was a large demand for social housing. It did not help anyone in a small rural village or where it was deemed there was insufficient demand for housing. Some people are able to do up and rent out their houses and none of them is left idle. If the Government had made the repair and lease scheme available in rural areas, it would have worked, but it was never intended for them because what I am smelling is that the Government does not have the money. If it told us straight that it did not have the money, every Deputy would accept it, but putting bundles of paper in front of us again and telling us that it is expected that 6,000 homes will be built offers no surety to those who are waiting for a home. If a couple and two children who want to get on the social housing list have an income of more than €33,000, they will be prevented from doing so, but if they are to obtain a loan from the same local authority, they must have an income in excess of €50,000. As such, a group of people are not being catered for and I am not convinced that, regardless of who dreamed it up, the Bill will help them. As I have often said in the Chamber, I do not believe the Government has the money. We would be grateful if it just told us this. Everyone would accept it and we would make do with what we had. In 2015 we were told in County Kerry that we would receive a sum of €62.5 million. We will probably only receive it by 2035 or thereabouts.

The Government's members are master architects of spin and not dealing in reality.

I have learned here in recent years that any of these ideas the Government comes up with are just ideas and they are not working for many people. The sad fact is that in the 2040 plan, the Government says that people will still be allowed to build one-off houses in rural areas if it does not detract from urban areas. We want honest answers about what that means. What has the Government told the local authorities? Is it telling the local authorities that people must buy much more expensive houses in urban areas where development land is much more expensive and that they cannot build on their own sites that they may be getting from their fathers or uncles? That was always allowed. Is the Government going to change that entirely? At the same time, it does not have the wherewithal to build social houses. I know first-hand that in Kerry, only ten rural cottages can be built between now and 2021 when there are 37 more waiting. They are being told that they will have to continue to wait. I hope that what the Minister of State says will work out but I am sceptical about it in light of what has happened or, more correctly, what has not happened in the past two and a half years.

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