Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not going to get into the intricacies of what the solutions are for Dublin. I just want to commend the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, and the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, on all of their efforts. One thing I know from the many contacts I have in the city is that demand for housing is savage. This is an effort to come up with novel ideas and new ways of doing things, as Deputy Bruton pointed out in regard to the State-led Land Development Agency, which has been in the making for a number of years. Any proposal to try to provide building solutions for the many people who are in desperate need to start their families, start the next phase of their lives and get independence from home, has to be commended. I want to acknowledge the Minister and the Minister of State for their work in this regard.

Closer to home, I want to make a couple of points. I want to acknowledge the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, for his efforts to try to move forward as quickly as possible with the mica legislation. It is very important that we start to move on that. The frustration continues to build and, in the meantime, many councillors in Donegal are advocating very strongly for modular housing for mica families while they are waiting for their houses to be rebuilt or to get the outer leaf done. We have to really look at something within the mica legislation to allow modular build in the short term. If we go through the normal channels and planning processes, with third-party objections, that will not fit the timeline of what is needed in the short term. I believe we need to look at the all-encompassing demands on housing that we have at the moment.

I led a delegation to Romania recently and we met with many politicians in Bucharest. Romania has a dedicated sectoral working group on housing to deal with the current demands in terms of local housing need but also the pressure of 100,000 Ukrainians coming into the country.

They are looking at an all-encompassing solution for their home needs and that of Ukrainians in totality, rather than doing them in isolation because that creates its own social difficulties in terms of segregating people. We have a great opportunity in this country if we are considering modular solutions for Ukrainian families to consider an all-encompassing model. I used the example in my county of mica families who will need short-term housing.

The second point I would like to make is that many houses built 20 years ago had three or four bedrooms because families had three, four, five or six children. Many of these children have moved on and families will want to downsize. They may not want to build a house with the same footprint. The Minister of State will consider scenarios whereby when people build a house with the same footprint they will not have to apply for planning permission because that takes away the incentive for families to downsize.

I again reiterate that I do not think people who want to downsize should have to go through the planning process not only because it takes away the incentive, but because it also opens things up to third-party objections. People in a 2,500 sq. ft. house may want to downsize to a house of about 1,500 sq. ft. or 1,800 sq. ft. They would have to go through planning and there could potentially be third-party objections where somebody is trying to replace a home. We have to consider something within the legislation to provide incentives rather than the current disincentives in regard to downsizing.

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