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

I am afraid that this Bill may not protect the majority of people who are facing eviction. I do not think we fully comprehend the difficulties people go through when they are facing eviction. Some people have been fighting for years to try to hold on to their homes. They are willing to pay, have tried to pay and tried to negotiate. They are unfortunately facing the courts, which seem to be hell-bent on falling on the side of the banks. They are not willing to listen to people who are desperate to hold on to their homes. It is beyond belief that the vulture funds are being set up like this. I fear that with the pandemic, many businesses will be scooped up by vulture funds in another two or three years. We are at the beginning of a disaster.

There is a housing crisis in west Cork, from Kinsale to Bandon, Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Mizenhead, Bantry and Dunmanway. People continuously come to me who cannot get housing. Construction has not resumed, which is a crisis in itself. People have homes wide open to the elements which have been destroyed by bad weather. Someone has decided that construction is a danger with Covid, which it is not. People want to move into their homes but cannot. People in Kinsale phoned me and told me that their homes have been exposed to all sorts of weather, ruining the work and changes done already. Many people do not want to be in social housing if they can avoid it. They want to work to buy a house. It is impossible for them to get loans and they are being refused. It is important for young people to find sites so that they can build in the community that they work and live in.

There is a disturbing matter about rezoning in Clonakilty. There are areas of ground zoned in the town which are very important. People have been in contact with me to say that part of that ground will be taken back in the county development plan. That is an outrageous attack on the people of west Cork. If that is happening in other towns in west Cork, such as Clonakilty, it will have devastating effects on an area which is in dire need of housing. The county development plan gives an opportunity for people to get planning in an area who otherwise cannot get it for five years. Our young people need to be looked after. They want to build homes and to pay for their homes honestly and fairly. I urge the Minister to look at the county development plans. I urge Cork county councillors to seriously consider not voting if they are going to dezone ground or to vote against it if they are not going to give young people planning permission, and to stand up for the people. I call on them to do that in the next year.

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