Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am supposed to be joined by colleagues but if they do not come in, I will ramble on. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Private Members' motion. There is no doubt that the glass bottle site is important for Dublin housing. It needs to be discussed with the by-election that is even more important, particularly when there is a possible seat to be won. I am not going to speak about the site. I am sure many more speakers more eloquent than I am will talk about it but they might actually know about it as well. The site is symbolic of the malaise that has affected housing in this State and of the Government's faith in the private sector to deliver when it clearly cannot and will not.

There is a need to discuss housing in every part of the country so I will confine my comments to Donegal. You would think that it should not need to be stated again but there is a need for a massive housebuilding programme in every county and town. Last year, 34 houses were allocated in Donegal town. That might seem like a lot for a town but there were over 1,600 people on the waiting list for those houses. By my reckoning, it would take about 40 such developments to deal with the list. At this rate, it will probably take 100 years, and that is if nobody else is added to it. That shows the extent of the problem we are dealing with.

Given that the housing list is artificially low due to the manipulation of the figures on the waiting list by the Department, this is significant.

The Department only allows people with incomes below €25,000 a year onto the list in Donegal, with an increase for children which means that anyone with an income above €28,000 a year will not get on the list at all. This means thousands of people will never get to buy a home in Donegal and will not have a hope of getting a council house either. That is a sad failing of our Government. We must have a Government that is committed to local authorities providing the solution to the housing issue if we are going to deal with it. It is amazing how reluctant local authorities are to try anything new or innovative to deal with the problems they have. It must be that they are afraid of offending the Government, perhaps because they will be looking for work in the future or do not want to rock the boat when funding comes around. This all gives the Department considerable influence over what happens across our local authorities.

The Department also oversees the delivery of housing down to the smallest development, so it is no wonder we have a housing crisis. The Department should be providing overall direction to local authorities and not micromanaging the delivery of houses. Every stage of a housing development must be approved by the Department in order to make progress. Local authorities are not allowed to progress development, and that is the reality. What knowledge would somebody in the Custom House have about a site in Glencolmcille, Burtonport or any number of towns in Donegal? If you want to control the spending of money and ensure it is not spent or is only spent on particular developers or types of development, that is the way to do it. That is, sadly, what this situation is about. That is what is happening.

If the Minister wanted to make sure that local authorities would develop housing in a way that would meet the needs of a county, he would give the authority the means and head to do it. We should give a county an allocation and audit it to make sure it develops the proper types and locations of houses. Let the county council deliver the housing itself. The Minister should eventually make councillors responsible for the delivery because we would then have real local development and not the sham we have at the moment whereby councillors pretend they are in control of the council and then wring their hands when the council does not deliver. Overall, that would be better for the community, local authorities and the Government because the Government and the Dáil could then start to focus on other priorities and responsibility for decision-making and delivery would lie where they should, that is, at local level. That is vital. That is how housing could be delivered across the board. It is possible. It would take a change of mindset and of Government, but it could happen. We do not need the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications going to Donegal, cutting the tape on a 30-house development and declaring the job done. We need Donegal County Council to deliver those houses and for the Minister to ask whether the council is doing it right and in the way we want it done. That is all the Department needs to do. The Department is about the control of money, not the delivery of houses, and that is the reality of the situation. That is the problem impeding everything that has to happen.

If the Minister wants to deal properly with the issues, he should make the local authorities deal with them and make the councillors responsible. We must avoid the fiasco of councillors wringing their hands, saying they cannot deliver, and running and hiding when the local authority will not do it either. That is the problem across the board.

There are also issues relating to voluntary housing bodies. People in Ardagh, County Donegal, want to get a project off the ground. The voluntary housing body is there and already has a scheme that provides sheltered housing for all people who need it, including, for example, people who require a level of care that is below nursing home requirements. Those people can live and be looked after in their local communities. There is a desire to expand and deliver further on that project but, of course, there is no funding available. The Department cannot allocate any funding because the people who would be targeted are people with houses but who are incapable of staying in them on their own and, therefore, do not come under the responsibility of the council in terms of housing because they have a property. Those people could be facilitated to stay in their local communities rather than going into nursing homes but in that case they would not be giving bundles of money to the private sector. They would be giving money to the community. It would be a way to maintain the vitality of communities, which is crucial. That is the kind of thing local authorities should be allowed and encouraged to do. The Department can make sure the local authorities are spending the money properly rather than suggesting authorities should buy this site or that site. The Department should not control local authorities in that way. The Department controls the purchase of a site and the way in which a project goes to tender. The Department is micromanaging housing across the country.

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak. Perhaps I have not spoken to the motion but I have spoken about housing, which is a vital issue. I hope the Government might take on board what I have said but I doubt it.

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