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

I thank everyone who has contributed to the debate - at least, most who have done so. I will deal with the Minister's contribution in a moment. I welcome the support of Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and various Independents for this Fianna Fáil Bill. It is a genuine attempt to address the issue of bulk buying and the freezing out of first-time buyers from the market. This is a reality; we all know it is happening. Is the Bill perfect? No. It does not affect Part V provision in any way. It does not affect delivery of social houses. This is on top of delivering social and affordable houses through our own affordable purchase scheme on State-owned lands, which we have pushed for. We are certainly open to amendment of the Bill on Committee Stage, and the Bill will go to the committee now with the support of other parties. Fine Gael has again decided to put its head in the sand and say there is no problem. What it is effectively doing by rejecting the Bill is again prioritising cuckoo funds and vulture funds over and above first-time buyers and people who want to get their feet on the housing ladder. That is what Fine Gael has done and is doing. It does not particularly surprise me. What did not surprise me either was the Minister's trite and condescending remarks in response to my introduction of the Bill, which once again displayed his Trevelyanesque attitude towards the housing crisis. He will be remembered for this, not just in respect of this Bill but on others. He has clearly demonstrated on a number of occasions that he is not the oracle of wisdom on how to address the housing crisis. If anything, he has displayed in many instances a sheer lack of understanding of the situation. His leadership in the Department, I am pleased to see, will come to an end early next year. We need a change of Government and of housing strategy. We need to deliver and to implement. We do not need to keep going around cutting ribbons on schemes of eight houses all around the country, as Deputy Smyth mentioned. I had the dubious pleasure of the Minister coming into my constituency a number of months ago and opening houses that had actually been occupied for more than two years. It was a remarkable achievement. I was surprised he did not put the people out of the houses first only to hand them back the keys they already had.

Leaving that aside, the Minister of State's response was somewhat more constructive. Did I say the Bill was perfect? Absolutely not. To address some of the concerns that some of the contributors had about Part V provision and social housing, the Bill makes absolutely no difference in this regard. Did I say first-time buyers should only be allowed to buy new properties? That was an absolutely ridiculous charge from whoever wrote that script for the Minister and passed it on to the Minister of State. There is no question of that. Does the Bill state in any shape or form that a first-time buyer, if he or she had the resources to do so, could not buy a second-hand house? Nonsense.

Leaving all that aside, I have taken extensive notes from the feedback from colleagues who wanted to contribute in a positive way towards this legislation. I welcome the support. I welcome in particular Deputy Maureen O'Sullivan's contribution. It was a very balanced and realistic approach. This is a massive issue, particularly in the Dublin area but across our cities. I refer to bulk buying of properties - not just apartments but also housing developments - from under the noses of potential first-time buyers who want to get their feet on the ladder. The State is doing this too. The State should be building, not buying. That would be a fundamental difference in our approach. Fianna Fáil believes that the State needs to lead by example and should not just stand off like the Minister with his laissez-faireattitude and leave it to the market, which is effectively what he has done. I thank my colleagues for their contributions and I again commend the Bill to the House.

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