Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I thank all of the Deputies who contributed to this debate. It is very clear from the statement by the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, that the Government is not opposing the Bill at this time. We know it has no intention of working with us to help progress the Bill. Both Ministers of State effectively defended the Government's position on long-term leasing in their comments, as did the Minister last night. That does not surprise me. What does surprise me is that the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, repeated the recent Government line on institutional investors and basically said it should not be happening in suburban housing estates but for it to happen in apartments is okay. This was from a Green Party Minister of State who, of course, should be supporting sustainable compact development. I do not understand this comment.

To be clear on this, and we have been very clear on this all along, until recently, Part V long-term leasing was happening on a very small scale. That has changed dramatically in the past six months to a year. I have given concrete examples of this, as have Deputies Catherine Murphy, Paul Donnelly and Ó Broin. I am surprised the Ministers of State are referring to figures from previous years when we have been saying that what is happening now needs to be addressed.

Survey data by researchers at the Central Bank has found growing wealth inequality in Ireland. Looking at survey data from 1987, it found the share of wealth of the top 1% of households has increased from 10% to 15% while the share of wealth of the bottom 50% of households has declined from 12% to just 7%. The top 1% of households in Ireland now have more than double the amount of wealth of the bottom 50% of households. We know that housing completely dominates the composition of distribution of wealth in Ireland. Of the bottom 25% of households in Ireland, only one in 1,000 are home owners. Of those aged under 40 years of age who bought a home between 2013 and 2018, almost 50% did so through receiving inheritance. Younger people, renters and people on lower incomes are being caught in a trap of paying high rents and are unable to afford to buy a home.

Long-term leasing does not make sense. It does not make sense for social housing tenants who do not get security of tenure and face eviction as they grow older. It does not make sense for building sustainable communities, it does not make sense for the State and society in terms of long-term value for money and it creates problems down the road. The only people for whom this makes sense are developers and investment funds. If the Government is serious about tackling this it should be serious about progressing the Bill. Long-term leasing is a sweetheart deal for developers. It is an incredibly reckless economic approach and it is not an efficient use of State funds. The Government is creating a perfect storm of lax oversight and developer-centric deals that are driving up housing costs and denying the State an opportunity to add to its permanent social housing stock. Before any more damage is done, it is time to end the State's reliance on long-term leasing as a means to provide social housing. To tackle this housing crisis we must take a new approach and prioritise the delivery by the State of long-term secure and affordable social homes.

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