Dáil debates

Tuesday, 28 September 2021

6:05 pm

Photo of Brian LeddinBrian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I support much of what my colleague, Deputy Matthews, said in his contribution. In particular, I support his tributes to the Minister. Housing for All is a very good document and a very good plan. There was lots of evidence on the day it was launched that the Minister had taken on advice and suggestions from his colleagues in government, from colleagues across the Oireachtas, from NGOs that are working hard in the area of housing, particularly homelessness, and, most important, from people throughout the country who are worried they will never be able to settle down in a home where their status is secure.

The Taoiseach has spoken previously about the three big priorities for Government being health, housing and climate. These areas are linked in many ways, not least in the need to deliver compact growth leading to sustainable and healthy communities. In addition, they are all extremely challenging areas requiring a whole-of-government approach and political leadership. They necessitate doing things in a different way and they are all very difficult problems to solve.

Every year in this Chamber we talk about housing, and every time we discuss the issue someone mentions the Kenny report. It was often Green Party Deputies who raised the issue of housing as that report gathered another layer of dust on the shelf. I am very pleased this Government will introduce measures similar to those recommended by Judge Kenny in 1973 to capture some of the uplift in value for the State when land is rezoned. The measures are not perfect, but it will go on record that the Minister was the one who started to implement the recommendations of this report after so many decades.

Housing for All will also introduce penalties for owners of zoned land who fail to develop it. Again, this took far too long to introduce. I believe this is because it was too politically difficult and I am glad this Government has taken some politically difficult decisions not taken previously, because we need to take difficult decisions to deliver on housing. In addition to taxing undeveloped zoned lands, I also support the introduction of the Croí Cónaithe fund to support the delivery of housing in cities where planning permission has already been received and, importantly, to give financial support for the refurbishment of vacant homes.

Housing for All is bringing a new direction to the URDF, one I welcome. From my experience in my city of Limerick, despite the best of intentions in our applications for funding, we have not managed to deliver the best for Limerick. We tried to apply for flagship projects that did not necessarily deliver a more liveable Limerick city. I welcome the fact the URDF will in future be much more focused on delivery of housing, in particular on bringing vacant housing back into use. Revitalising our urban centres requires a multifaceted approach and it was remiss up to this point that vacant housing was not a primary focus of the URDF.

I am passionate about the issue of housing vacancy. It is morally wrong that we have so many empty homes throughout our State, and I have been working with my colleagues to try to push for a wide range of measures to tackle the issue of housing vacancy. I am glad to see that Housing for All delivers many of these measures. I will continue to push for comprehensive measures to address housing vacancy and vacant sites because we must restore the fabric of our cities, towns and villages, getting people to live in them again and to do so in a sustainable manner.

There is often a lot of lip service paid in this House to the concept of balanced regional development but I believe that the town centres first approach is the way of actually delivering it. I know that the Minister's Department is working hard with the Department of the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Humphreys, to deliver the town centres first policy. I know from my party colleagues, the Ministers of State, Deputies Joe O’Brien and Malcolm Noonan, that this town centres first approach is receiving high priority in both Departments.

There are many other welcome aspects to Housing for All but I want to conclude by saying that when faced with difficult problems, there can be a temptation to flee to the safety of ideological purity, to focus more on being right than on getting things done. I do not think that my constituents, many of whom have contacted me to share their difficulties in getting a place they can call home, would thank me or anyone else for not urging you to focus now, as you have committed to doing, on getting things done and delivering this plan. We have the blueprint for action, and now we must deliver.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.