Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil supports the motion. We would have liked to have had more input into its content, but on balance and accepting its spirit, we support it. The scale and depth of the housing crisis represents the most serious challenge we face as a country today. There are spiralling social housing waiting lists and the scars of homelessness pockmark our cities. Renters struggle to find a place to live and then scrape together money to make ends meet. The dream of home ownership is slipping away from a generation with the lowest rate of homeownership since 1971. The crisis is everywhere. The State must step in and lead, as it did in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s to provide homes for its people.

The motion places housing front and centre on the political stage days before a critical budget. That is exactly where housing needs to be. No party has done more to place an emphasis on housing than Fianna Fáil. We have put forward more than ten Private Members' Bills and motions and we have used our position in the confidence and supply arrangement to press for change. We have not shouted from the sidelines, but have taken action. The upcoming budget must be a housing budget. That is why Fianna Fáil is supporting the principles and spirit of this motion. As a party, we have an important role also in providing stability during fragile Brexit talks. The budget negotiations form an important part of that process. We are committed to acting responsibly and putting forward constructive solutions. This is the only way to make real progress that will deliver bricks and mortar on the ground.

Pressing for this change while providing stability is difficult, but it is, ultimately, the most responsible path forward. Our support for the key principles underpinning this set of proposals should be seen in this light. Unlike the headline grabbing acts of motions of no confidence, today's debate focuses on actual proposals to address the housing crisis. While they do not cover the broad range of issues Fianna Fáil believes should be addressed, the proposals are a start. We will do our part responsibly in progressing these policies and providing a stable Government. In contrast to the approach of others in May, we will not reject the motion's good ideas on the basis of where those ideas emanate from. In comments to the Construction Industry Federation, CIF, yesterday, the Minister stated that future policy changes will not be "too drastic or too dramatic". We need far more innovation, immediacy and ambition than that. I hope genuinely that the Government will reflect on the strong and urgent measures required to get to grips with this crisis. Fianna Fáil will continue to use its role in confidence and supply and, most important, its mandate to press for change

I will discuss the specific measures outlined in the motion before setting out additional steps we believe should be pursued. In declaring a national emergency, we need to be clear about what specific powers are required. The recent Indecon report on a vacant home tax called for a major programme of compulsory purchase orders on suitable residential vacant sites. Equipping local authorities with the resources and clear powers to purchase properties compulsorily would serve two purposes. First, it would directly increase the number of units available for social housing. Second, and just as important, it would send a clear signal of intent to anyone speculating on vacant property and would incentivise its use.

Such moves should not be token gestures designed to tick a box. This requires a measured policy move brought forward in conjunction with other targets. The motion sets out an ambitious target of €2.3 billion in capital spending, or more than double the 2018 level. That would build some 11,500 units in 2019, which is a major increase on the existing target of 7,500 builds and acquisitions for next year. While it is important to set ambitious targets and to put forward the resources to back them up, we must be honest about what can be delivered. Money has to be combined with reform to ensure real delivery. We have to be realistic about how many units can be delivered within planning constraints next year.

Local authorities need to be adequately equipped to direct build, the Department's role must be streamlined and approved housing bodies must be scaled up to meet the challenge. This is not the first time I have called for these changes. Without these fundamental changes to the process of building, we will not get the full impact of the extra money that we need to commit. The two should go in tandem to transform our social housing construction levels. For example, the discretion of local authorities to build to scale without undergoing a protracted procurement process must be reviewed and expanded. The €2 million cap must be lifted, which is a matter we have discussed with the Minister at committee and which he is considering. We are tying the hands of local authorities in the delivery of social housing.

Part V was introduced by Fianna Fáil in 2000 with the aim of ensuring that private development offered some contribution to social value. It also encouraged mixed tenure development which had a broader social benefit. Its operation was beginning to yield significant value before the recession. The decision to slash the allocation from 20% to 10% was a retrograde step and it should be reversed. The State has sufficient land for more than 42,000 units. The newly announced Land Development Agency has the potential to help manage land effectively and bring new units on stream. However, it will not deliver units for years, perhaps four to four and a half years. We come back once again to delivery. Targets and allocations mean nothing if the units are not delivered. The role of the State should not be relegated to middleman for land sales. The State has to take the lead in direct build, supporting approved housing bodies and launching a comprehensive affordable housing scheme. We cannot leave it solely to the market. We need an efficient State that can deliver for its citizens in this most basic of areas.

The rental crisis is driving homelessness further and further towards unprecedented levels. To have 10,000 people and 4,000 children in homelessness is a scar on the conscience of the State. The economic and moral challenge of addressing homelessness demands immediate political action. The measures contained within the motion go some way to targeting the problem. Security of tenure and rent certainty combined with protections from undue evictions should be prioritised.

There are a number of additional steps Fianna Fáil believes it is necessary to take to get to grips fully with this crisis. The strength of a State rests on each citizen having a clear stake in it. Home ownership is the clearest way of securing that link. For this reason, Fianna Fáil has placed a special emphasis on launching a comprehensive affordable housing scheme. I was disappointed at the lack of cross-party support for the proposals my party brought forward last May to deliver affordable housing. I hope that other parties here will reconsider their position and support steps to ensure genuine affordable housing and a proper affordable housing scheme.

Last week, we discussed a motion of no confidence in the Minister. I disagreed with it as it would have brought down the Government in the midst of Brexit negotiations. That would have been a reckless act of political selfishness. Political parties playing political games will not build one additional home. Constructive actions will. There is no silver bullet, but there are better policies. We support this motion in that spirit of urgent, decisive action, co-operation and collaboration in a constructive and responsible way.

Let us work together to get to grips with the crisis that touches every single family in this State. In the dark times of the 1930s we cleared the slums and built houses on an unprecedented scale. With real ambition and political will we can achieve that kind of scale again.

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