Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I recognise the value of the report of the Housing Commission from last May. Of the 83 recommendations, approximately 65 are in train or at an advanced stage, which I welcome.

Coming from the constituency of Dún Laoghaire where we have amongst the highest average property prices in the country, there is a real problem for people acquiring property that goes beyond what most people face around Ireland. It might well be said that they could live somewhere else or somewhere cheaper but that is not a reasonable thing to say to somebody who grew up in Dalkey, Blackrock or Dún Laoghaire, to say they must move away from their family and support system if they have children. It would mean moving away from the areas they know, where they went to school and where their friends and networks are. That is really important. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, has advanced many initiatives to help with housing, certainly in terms of social housing. They have made a lot of inroads into the housing list.

The council has, with the Land Development Agency, made an awful lot of progress. The very first of those LDA developments to come to fruition was Shanganagh in Shankill, with nearly 600 units becoming available there through a range of schemes. All of that is welcome. It couples with many private developments throughout the Dún Laoghaire constituency that are providing housing for people and bringing housing on stream. Of course, to the largest extent possible, that housing is made up of apartments. I do not have a problem with apartment living. I lived in an apartment for many years. That is not an issue. However, when building apartments, we need to look to having liveable spaces that are family-sized. They must not comprise two bedrooms and a living room, which is not a space in which people can raise a family. There must be multiple bedrooms and multiple living areas. As every parent knows, there comes a time, no matter how lovable and wonderful their children are, that they want to exist in a separate space. We need to apply a system that allows families to do that.

Recommendation No. 41 states: "Review and recalibrate regularly measures to assist with access to home ownership for first-time buyers, taking account of detailed evidence on income distribution, affordability, supply dynamics and regional differences." We need to focus on the regional differences aspect. Before discussing that, there are other factors we should consider. I have said on a number of occasions that banks do not help the current situation. They very much offer an umbrella on a sunny day and ask for it back when it is raining. We should be looking at encouraging them to be a little more reasonable in regard to mortgage applications. The fact somebody could be paying €2,000 in rent per month but that is not counted as proof of mortgage repayment affordability is absolutely ridiculous. It should be changed. It might not be something that can be done by the Department of housing but it is an issue the Government can deal with at Central Bank level. Allowing people to have rent payments taken into account would be very important.

Regional differences are really important because of the cost of any type of housing, whether an apartment or house, in places like Dún Laoghaire. The help-to-buy scheme is welcome. It makes it easier for people to acquire a home. However, the €500,000 threshold is arbitrary and is very disappointing for anybody who lives in an area where the average house price is €600,000, as it currently is in Dún Laoghaire. It means that people paying €499,000 for a home can get a €30,000 grant, while those paying €500,000 get nothing. I do not know whether the Minister has been involved in bidding for houses any time recently. Bidders go up in increments of €5,000. It would be better to have the threshold set at €501,000 rather than €500,000. As a general rule, we should be looking seriously at recalibrating that amount and applying it differently in different areas relative to average house prices. If the system is not working, let us fix it and make sure it works. The cost limit must be reconsidered.

For so many young people, not being realistically able to afford a house in the place where they grew up is desperately unfair. That situation needs to be fixed. It is something we can do. We need to support people, especially first-time buyers. We must continue with the measures that have been put in place to help people in every respect to buy every type of home. At the moment, as we know, there is a real blockage. It is not for the want of trying on behalf of individuals that they cannot buy a home. People go to the pin of their collar to acquire a property. We have a situation at this time that is untenable. I know people in my area who say they will not buy a house now and will wait for the crash they anticipate is coming. I am afraid it is not coming. We do not have the circumstances that led to the crash in the 2000s. It is not going to happen again. There may be a plateau or something like that if the economic downturn that is so much talked about ever comes. The reality is that we have a generation of people who do not see a path to home ownership. In and of itself, home ownership is really important because it gives people a stake in society. It means they have a share, they count and they have something in which to invest. Everybody should be entitled to that. I encourage any measures we can put in place to allow people to do it.

See this speech in context