Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I compliment the Labour Party on this motion but I would like it to do what Brendan Howlin did when he apologised profoundly for the disastrous abolition of borough councils, etc., under Better Local Government. Labour was in government from 2011 to 2014 and decimated housing construction. Its new leader says it will build 1 million houses. This is the problem. We have people who magic up figures and do not have a clue. They could not build a henhouse and did not build one, yet we demonise private developers. We have to get local authorities back building houses so they will have stock. All the money going into HAP is just outrageous. It is money down the drain, with nothing to show for it.

Deputy Canney made the great point that we have to have maintenance crews in councils to maintain existing stock. I accept we are now increasing the rate of building, including in Tipperary County Council, but if we have no maintenance crews the houses will fall into disrepair.

We must examine the planning process. Planning permission was turned down in a rural village beside me this morning. An application was made for 14 houses but 14 will not be allowed. The applicants are people who can build houses. The site has been abandoned for decades. There are ten houses to be removed and new ones are to be built. Planning has to be joined up with housing authorities to try to put things together, and we must work in unison. A man in Tipperary, Sean Meehan, was evicted and threatened with jail in court for housing himself. He put up a log cabin. We have to introduce a statutory instrument to allow log cabins and modular buildings so people can house themselves and help out in the housing crisis. We need common sense and joined-up thinking, not grandiose ideas from the likes of Deputy Bacik and others here.

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