Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy Cian O'Callaghan on introducing this valuable legislation today. I thank his Social Democrats colleagues for making way for the Bill in Private Members' time.

The Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, urged us not to use emotive language. He said it was unhelpful. I will use some straight language. Long-term leasing of social housing in Part V developments is the stupidest way to deliver social housing that I have ever come across. There are so many reasons this should never have been on the Statute Book and should be removed as a matter of urgency.

There are three reasons this is a bad policy. First, it does not guarantee social housing tenants lifetime security of tenure. The great value of social housing is that the family gets real lifetime security of tenure and can embed roots in the community. Even better, if they pass the property on to their children, we get intergenerational security of tenure which produces sustainable communities. Long-term leasing of Part V social housing units prevents all of that.

Second, it defeats the purpose of Part V legislation in the first place. Part V was designed not only to provide social housing but to ensure no housing development could be 100% private. Yet, we have a situation where a developer can lease out the units for 25 years then revert them back to private, resulting in the whole purpose of Part V being actively undermined.

Every time I hear a Minister talk about social housing ghettoes, the patronising tone sends shivers down my spine. Apparently, it is okay to have rich ghettos of 100% private housing as facilitated by this legislation.

The third reason this is the stupidest way to deliver social housing in the history of the State is because it is so damn expensive. For example, the average cost of the Part V leases approved to date this year is €18,000 per unit per annum. Per unit of accommodation, that is a total cost of €451,000. The most expensive long-term Part V lease was approved by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council in 2019. It came to an astonishing €28,000 per unit. In total, €700,000 of taxpayers' money was used not to own the social house for life but to lease it for 25 years. In some senses, this is the children's hospital of social housing. It is hardly surprising that it happened under Fine Gael's watch. So bad is this mechanism, it is even more expensive than standard long-term leasing. The standard long-term lease average price this year is €15,000. It is actually €76,000 more expensive to long-term lease a Part V unit.

This Bill is timely because, while Part V long-term leases have been a tiny portion of overall leases for a number of years in double digits, so far this year over 100 have been approved. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan and his colleagues have informed the House that private investors and developers are now actively seeking this out as a way of increasing their yields.

Sinn Féin wants this Bill to proceed to Committee Stage as a matter of urgency. We want the Government to change the law and ensure that no more long-term leases of Part V developments proceed. I was concerned by what the Minister of State told the House. The Government has no intention of proceeding with this legislation or honouring the democratic will of this Chamber when we approve it later on. It just wants to make it seem that it supports the principle. Then, of course, because it has a majority on Committee Stage, this Bill will never see the light of day, like so many other good Opposition Bills over recent times.

Not only do we need to scrap long-term leasing of Part V, but also long-term leasing itself is a bad way to deliver social housing. It does not provide a security of tenure or good value for money for the taxpayer. It should be stopped. The sooner we get to large-scale delivery of public housing on public land led by local authorities and other not-for-profit agents, the better.

It is unfortunate that the Minister of State is not here. Earlier, he said the Government is now going to prioritise the direct delivery of local authority homes. Last year, long-term leasing produced more homes than those directly delivered by local authorities. There were 1,500 long-term leases but only 800 directly delivered by local authorities. The Government really needs to get its act in order if it is going to meet that commitment. I suspect, however, like so many other aspects of its housing policy, it is a promise soon to be broken. The Government hopes people will forget. The Opposition, however, will be united to ensure that its broken promises and failed housing policies will not be forgotten. The public will be reminded of them at every opportunity.

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