Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The latest figures from the Department show that 10,440 men, women and children were homeless in November, up 5% on the year before. More than a decade after Ireland experienced Europe's biggest property crash, the housing and property market remains in difficulty. The Central Bank of Ireland estimates that the State will need 34,000 new homes a year over the next decade to keep up with demand. Government policy on restricting planning permission for one-off rural housing due to the stringent measures in place within the national planning framework are having a major impact. Overall problems with Ireland's planning system are causing significant delays in the delivery of homes, especially one-off houses. Recent updated research from the Central Bank sets out how Irish banks under the watch of this Government are charging, on average, interest rates that are twice the EU average. This has the impact of a loan costing €60,000 more over the lifetime of a 30-year mortgage. Many mortgage holders are paying three times the EU average for the same loans. There is a lack of empathy from the Government for people who are trying to pay mortgages during this pandemic with no jobs, no way of getting a job and no moratorium. This is not good enough. At the end of this pandemic we will have a lot more people in our court system trying to hold on to their family homes. Yet again we will see the vulture funds fly in and swoop up these homes.

In the short time I have left I will discuss rural planning, which is becoming an absolute and utter nightmare for people. It is becoming more and more difficult. More fences must be jumped and people cannot get planning, including young people. The Minister will be aware, as I am, when we set up our homes people are delighted to get the planning permission and get the project off the ground. It is a nightmare now. In some localities, for example, the person must be living there for seven years. If someone comes to work in a community and wants to live in that community he or she cannot, unless he or she buys a house. He or she cannot build a house. There is also an issue with proximity. This week alone I have dealt with eight or ten planning issues. Every one of them has a little bit of a problem, perhaps a small or tedious thing, and they cannot get over that. The Minister must look at it. Some of these people are then going to need assistance with housing but if they have two jobs their income might be over the threshold and they cannot get HAP, and yet they cannot get a loan if their income is not enough. It is a complete farce and the Government is standing over it year in and year out. I ask the Minister to reply to me in writing on the matter because I am running out of time. I ask that he would look at this and allow people to at least make an application for planning permission and give them help with every effort they make to get their feet off the ground in their start in life.

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