Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I, too, am delighted to support this Bill, introduced by my colleague from Tipperary. I thank him for the work he put into it.

The Taoiseach said he accepts there is a national housing emergency yet the Minister responsible for housing, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, who is not here tonight although he should be, has reportedly undermined confidence in his homelessness statistics by ordering earlier this year the removal of 1,600 people from the housing data. The Government is playing with figures. The Minister must be the seventh Minister responsible for housing in the past two Administrations. One is worse than the next. It is like the "Magnificent Seven". The Government must be the Underwhelming Seven. AK-47, the former Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, was firing blanks in my constituency. They are all firing blanks and have lost the will to build houses. They are not building and will not allow private builders to do so. It will not give Home Building Finance Ireland the necessary powers and will not give people who can build them loans. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett mentioned the issues we all encounter every day. People earning between €30,000 or €35,000 and €70,000 cannot get a loan. They cannot go anywhere. A measly three people were approved in the previous scheme in Tipperary, and I believe nobody was approved under Rebuilding Ireland. What an inept and unsuitable title. The Government does not have the first iota as to how to build. It is not because it is not able or because the private builders are not able; it is fundamentally because of Fine Gael, supported by Fianna Fáil. Fianna Fáil was always the party of building houses so I cannot believe it will not support this Bill tonight. I am not saying it is perfect but it can be amended and nurtured as it passes through. The Government, however, is in hock to the banks and Europe and does not care about the people who have no houses. It has a fundamental ideological blockage regarding allowing people to build houses themselves. I know of ten couples in south Tipperary who want to build their own houses. They have their own sites and can get the loans but the authorities will not give them planning permission under the so-called plans associated with Project Ireland 2040. There are those who want to buy houses but they cannot obtain approval for a loan. The Government is pushing paper from Tipperary up to Dublin and down again and over to the west, and back around six or seven different places in the Department. The Government is doing nothing and should hang its head in shame. If it is not going to build houses or let somebody else build them, it should get to hell out and call an election.

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