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

I am glad to have the opportunity to contribute on this important topic. I, too, am unhappy with the appointment of another regulator and another group of people who will be appointed by the Minister of the day.

There is enough officialdom as it is if those people woke up and gave funding to local authorities to build the houses. What difference will it make to have another regulator appointed by the Government? The regulator will have to revert to the Government for approval to release funding in any case. The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government demands a four-stage process when a project goes over €2 million and one would not build even eight houses for that now with all the new regulations. I do not approve of this.

For almost two years I have spoken about how the Government is blocking the tenant purchase scheme, which allows people to buy their houses after living for 30 or 40 years in them. Pensioners who have come into money are not allowed to purchase their houses despite giving 30 or 40 years to renting and maintaining a house to a high standard. They are blocked from buying those houses, which is very wrong. The money used to, in turn, go back to the local authority to refurbish voids and bring them back into circulation. We now have a problem with the number of voids in Kerry and it is taking too long to turn them around. I believe the authorities when they say they do not have the required funding. What is wrong with the Government? We were told in 2015 we would get €65 million. There was much hullabaloo from the Government at the time that Kerry was getting €65 million for housing but I can tell the House we have nowhere near even a quarter of that drawn down four years later because we are being stifled by the Department and its four-stage process. There is no order in what is going on.

There is much comment about landlords blackguarding tenants or charging too much rent. Most landlords are paying 52% of the money they receive in rent to the Government's coffers again. If the Government wants to do something about the amount of rent charged, it will have to do something about the amount of tax being taken from landlords. There are many good landlords and only a small minority does not comply with anything. Landlords are getting out of the game because the system is so much against them.

In Kerry, there are approximately 55 applicants on the local authority list for rural cottages and we will be lucky if 12 will be built between 2016 and 2021. That is equivalent to 12 houses in five years in all County Kerry, which is not good enough. The sites are provided and all we are asking for is the funding to build the houses. We are not getting it and I believe the local authority when it says it is not getting that funding. One rural cottage that has been built has no chimney, which is ridiculous, as it is in an area with turf all around it. The people will not be able to burn one sod of turf because there is no chimney in the house.

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