Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Ó Broin as an deis a thabhairt dúinn an ghné seo a phlé tríd an rún seo a chur os comhair na Dála. Tá sé ríthábhachtach go dtarlaíonn sé sin agus go dtarlaíonn sé ag an am a bhfuil an pobal i ngéarchéim thithíochta agus ag am a bhfuil an deis ag an bpobal, i bhfothoghchán nó aon toghchán eile, marc a dhéanamh ar pháipéar i gcoinne iad siúd atá tar éis suí ar cheist agus géarchéim thithíochta le blianta.

This motion highlights a scandal. It is a scandal that the State was offered land at a discount but did not take up that offer. In fact, the exact opposite happened, in that the State seemed to do everything in its power to avoid taking land that could have been used for people who were crying out for housing, be it for rental or purchase, including private purchase. That possibility was not afforded to them by this Government, the previous Government or the one before that. The housing crisis did not appear out of nowhere. It has been caused by years of inaction and a lack of investment.

Every time I have spoken about housing recently, the criers on the Government backbenches have said that we object to this, that and the other, but I do not object willy-nilly. My record stands for itself in supporting proper housing throughout the country. I support social and affordable housing on public land. I support private housing on private land. I do not support dog boxes, which the previous housing Minister wanted to build on many of the estates and other areas that had been designated for residential use.

It is time to act. The Minister has at long last started to move towards affordable purchase and affordable rental, but this problem was highlighted to this and recent Governments. Take St. Michael's estate as an example. For how many years has it been demolished? A house, be it affordable or social, has still not been built there. It is public land. I could list a range of public lands in my area. There are also lands in respect of which the State has not even bothered speaking to its State partners, for example, CIÉ, which has 30 acres in my constituency that are unused.

I would support housing being built on that land, as promised way back in 2008 to 2009. There are Office of Public Works, OPW, lands next door to it, on which there was planning for 300 houses. The OPW stores desks and tables on it. We have been to the fore with regard to Cherry Orchard in trying to ensure the same type of housing we are talking about here; private, for-purchase, affordable housing and affordable rental and social housing on the public section. That is what is needed. It is not just needed on the Irish Glass Bottle site, which I know well from my youth, but on every single piece of land.

However, it is not good enough to be talking about it. The councils need to be invested in to make sure they can deliver. The scandal the Minister is trying to create by building up the Land Development Agency, which will interfere with the democratic rights of citizens and councillors across this city, also needs to be ended. I can list off a range of areas which need to be developed and developed quickly. It is not just a matter of saying "we want to do this". It needs to be done as quickly as possible and that has not been seen by this Government or the previous four governments.

People will start emigrating in droves again, as they did in the past when there were no opportunities for them. In this case, they do not have the opportunity to have houses.

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