Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman for giving me his speaking time on this issue. I very much appreciate the opportunity. At a time when the Government and the Department are trying to envisage every way they can stop people from living in the countryside, it is more important than ever that local authorities be given the wherewithal to purchase land at affordable rates and do what they used always do and what they were good at, that is, buying a piece of ground and getting a local building contractor to build local authority houses that local people would be allowed to live in and eventually purchase. That is what we want. Obviously, there is room for and a need for developers as well. Anybody who thinks that business will not, cannot or should not continue is wrong. What we do not want is for that to happen at the expense of local authorities because, for instance, in the county I represent, whether in Tralee, Listowel, Killarney, Killorglin or the other towns and smaller villages, there is a massive housing need. While it is acceptable for a person to be on a housing list for a certain length of time, what I have seen through the years, first as a member of the local authority and subsequently as an Oireachtas Member, is that the time people remain on the list has increased. No notice is now taken of a person who says he or she has been on the list for eight, nine or ten years. In our case, that is not the fault of Kerry County Council. Rather, it is due to local authorities not being given the wherewithal by the Department, under not just this Government, but successive Governments, to address this issue. Of course, I am totally against the idea of people hoarding land. Doing so is wrong. I want to see local authorities being allowed to and given the money to purchase land on which to build local authority houses.

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