Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----because it is a very complex area. We have to talk about supply of course but it not just purely about supply. It is about sustainability of supply, security of supply, diversity of supply and affordability of supply.

It is also about the safety and security of citizens, new stock and dealing with existing stock.

Deputy Penrose talked about vacancies, with which we have a problem. The scheme about which he talked is actually in place; it is called the repair and leasing scheme. We also have a problem with objections when we try to do things about vacancies. We receive objections not only from citizens but also from politicians when we try to do things in providing new homes.

Deputy Penrose also talked about the Kenny report and the recommendations made in it. In subsequent reports we have adopted a lot of those recommendations in the Land Development Agency, LDA. The agency has not sold any State land. It is about developing public and private land in the public interest not only for public, social and affordable housing but also private housing. We believe the appropriate use of public land is for it to be used in the public good in the provision of housing for everyone. We intend to use our housing policy to ensure mixed tenure, housing for everyone; we do not want to use housing policy to divide communities. When we talk about existing stock and new stock, it is about making sure it is suitable to live in. It is about having the correct standards in place and not going back to the accommodation we had in the past, by which I mean bedsits. We should not go back to the type of accommodation that was not suitable for those in vulnerable circumstances. We must make sure we have emergency accommodation that is suitable and of the highest standard possible. It is also about making sure we have robust protections for both landlords and tenants. We need to make sure we have landlords operating in the housing system, but we also need to make sure people who are renting have protection, not just in terms of the standard of accommodation but also security of tenure.

The operational clauses included in the motion seem to suggest it is a money problem we are facing and that if we spend more money, we will have more homes more quickly and cheaply. That is poor logic which does not account properly for the economies of the housing sector. We have to increase output sustainably. We have to use land more strategically and economically and as we increase output, we have to make sure we are building in the right places and the right types of home. It is not just about the mix of tenures but also about making sure we have homes for different people at the different stages of their life cycle. I refer to homes for people who are elderly or disabled, as well as for young couples and single people. Almost half of the entries on housing lists are single adults. We have to make sure that as we build homes, we are building the right types of home. It is not about throwing up 80,000 new social and affordable homes in fields sprawling outwards from towns and cities.

We have to think of the people who were badly hurt in the housing crash, the people who were stranded in large housing estates without any social capital or infrastructure, with no shops, schools, playgrounds and public transport. We have to think about the people who were abandoned in unfinished housing estates, some of which still scar the landscape. We have to think about the people who were trapped in negative equity in homes that were too small for their growing families, the people who were burdened with debts they still cannot afford to pay and the people who invested their lives in homes that are no longer safe in which to live because the right standards were not in place in building regulations and controls. They are the mistakes of the past that we have to ensure we will not repeat as we rebuild the housing sector and build tens of thousands of homes each year.

The motion seeks to merge elements of NAMA, the Housing Agency, the Housing Finance Agency and the Land Development Agency to build homes on State land. It is accepting the benefits of the Land Development Agency while trying to use it for a different purpose.

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