Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I support these amendments. They go to the heart of the issue. I acknowledge that the Minister has moved some way in respect of 100% public homes on public land, but that is not guaranteed. It is as if he is taking baby steps forward. We, and particularly my colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, have been putting forward solutions to tackle the housing crisis. In this Bill, it appears that the Minister has taken a small amount of Deputy Ó Broin's proposals on board, but we invite the Minister to look at our strategy because, ultimately, the housing crisis affects every community and we must work together.

I hear talk about local authorities setting targets and local authorities doing more. Let us be very clear here. Previous Ministers and the Department have driven local authorities out of house building by cutting their staff and their funding and by not resourcing them to build homes. Will this Minister commit to giving local authorities funding so they can have their own direct builds? I welcome the fact that local authorities are hiring private developers to build developments, but local authorities are also buying developments that private developers have built separately. There are big issues here. Deputy McAuliffe spoke earlier about infrastructure. We are also looking at the types of houses being built. Are we building houses that are of universal design so they can be used by people with disabilities and older people? Are we building one- and two-bedroom homes? Are we building four- or five-bedroom homes? What we need is a plan. Just using the private sector, which appears to be Fianna Fáil's and Fine Gael's mantra, does not work.

With hindsight, when the Minister and his Fianna Fáil Deputies sit down and consider the four years they supported Fine Gael in government, do they regret allowing Fine Gael to make the housing crisis worse when its Minister was responsible for housing? Deputy McAuliffe and the Minister spoke earlier, but it must be remembered that they supported Fine Gael driving us into the worst housing crisis ever. To explain how bad things are, this week reports have emerged which show that house prices in Munster have risen by 16%. That is under the Minister's watch because it was Fianna Fáil who supported Fine Gael. We hear the Tánaiste talking about building 40,000 houses. He should hang his head in shame. He was the Taoiseach and he did not deliver.

I wish to make a few more points. I want to see local authorities build houses, buy houses and have a combination of direct build and using private developers, but to build the developments that local authorities need, not what private developers want to build. We are committed to having 100% public housing on public lands. That is the fundamental difference between us and what is in this Bill. The Bill does not guarantee that.

The other issue is affordability. When the Government looks at affordability, it looks at a reduction related to the market price. We believe affordability should be based on income and what people can afford to pay, not inflated market prices to tell us what the reduction should be and deem that affordable. That is not affordable. When I was a member of Cork City Council, I, other Sinn Féin councillors, Independent councillors and councillors from left-wing parties put forward solutions to resolve the housing crisis in Cork. As I stand here speaking on housing, I can say that the housing crisis has never been worse than it is tonight. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been in government for decades and they must accept responsibility for that.

A lady contacted me yesterday. She and her partner have been on the social housing list for eight and a half years. She was taken off the housing list this week because she is over the income threshold. Her partner is in the Defence Forces. She works for 12 hours per week. How is it possible under this Government that a family with one full-time income cannot qualify for social housing? They cannot get a mortgage from the banks. This family is now left in limbo. If their housing assistance payment, HAP, is cut off, and it is currently under appeal, they will have to come up with a rent payment of €1,400 per month. I was discussing with the Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney, the salaries and income of members of the Defence Forces. There is no way an ordinary member of the Defence Forces could come up with €1,400 per month for rent. That is under the Government's watch as well.

We want solutions. We recognise that the Minister has taken baby steps forward here, but it must be much more dynamic. We need to look further and deeper to see how we can solve the housing crisis. I will leave the Minister with three simple things if he really wishes to solve the housing crisis as quickly as possible.

What are we doing with derelict sites? Tens of thousands of houses and sites are lying idle throughout the country and we are not tackling them. There are 90,000 vacant properties not being tackled. Where is the money required for the local authorities to compulsorily purchase these properties and to take the owners and landlords of derelict buildings and vacant sites to task? If the Minister is serious, he will fund the local authorities to do this.

See this speech in context