Seán Canney (Galway East, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have heard a lot about housing this evening. I would have liked the Minister to be here to listen to what I have to say.

I have previously made statements about housing that may have fallen on deaf ears. I have just come from a meeting of the Committee on Budgetary Oversight at which I raised an issue with the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe. He does not agree with me that we should support first-time buyers or homeowners who want to buy second-hand or derelict houses. We might disagree but the Minister has made no progress in trying to get these houses occupied.

I heard the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage talking last week about Ukrainian refugees coming into the country and what would have to be done in the immediate, short, medium and long term to try and help them, and rightly so. He talked about introducing emergency legislation to deal with planning. If he is to do that, let him do it for everyone.

A survey by the Northern and Western Regional Assembly identified some 45,000 vacant houses in the northern and western area. If half of those properties were put into use as homes, we would make progress. One of our biggest problems is a deficit in infrastructure to enable houses to be built. In my constituency, many towns and villages are effectively locked out of development for the simple reason that they do not have a municipal waste treatment plant. Galway County Council will not give planning permission and An Bord Pleanála will refuse to give planning permission, which means we cannot build. Craughwell, Abbeyknockmoy and Corofin have development land right in the centre of the village but development is deemed to be premature until a municipal treatment plant is put in place. As a result, we end up with nothing happening in these areas. At the same time as we are trying to prohibit people from building in rural areas, we cannot build in towns. What do we do? One proposal from my local authority is that we build houses in clusters of five.

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We would have a small hamlet of five houses in some place - we do not yet know where - with their own individual septic tanks to try to get over the issue of not having a municipal wastewater treatment plant. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, might have something to say about us putting septic tanks in our towns and villages instead of building wastewater treatment plants. It is important we do things in a joined-up way.

Rents are rising all over the place because we do not have the supply coming on. We hear talk that this year housing starts are up and are very near targets, or whatever. They are not really being delivered in the places they need to be delivered in. Many of these houses are being delivered as social housing for the local authorities, which is fine, though not enough are being delivered. However, what about the people who want to build their own houses, get a mortgage and could take over an existing property and do it up?

The HAP scheme is not working properly. One of the things that has not been said tonight is if you have a landlord who rents his or her second house and the tenant does not pay the rent, then all the rent is stopped. Therefore, the landlord is left without any rent either. We need to ensure tenants and landlords are treated properly and fairly when houses are in the HAP system. Constituents have told me they cannot find a HAP house because when they go into the letting agent, they are told the agent's clients will not take HAP because they are afraid of it. We must ensure whatever system we have in place is fair to both. We need to look at this in such a way that we are providing houses. At this stage we have an emergency. We should short-circuit the planning on a temporary basis for the next two to three years to give us a chance to build something rather than be engaged in the planning, with An Bord Pleanála, with judicial reviews and with all that kind of a charade without actually building houses. We also need to remove all these procurement gateway approvals that have to be given before houses can be built in the public sector. It is incredible the way it is going on at the moment.

I hope the Minister of State takes on board some of what I am saying I thank the Acting Chair for her indulgence.

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