Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We have come to this housing debate God knows how many times now. I think we have had about six or seven debates on housing. In one sense, it recognises the importance of the issue. However, as Deputy Tóibín said, we are having a lot of statements. We are going around in circles without actually moving forward. The Housing Commission's report, for example, has been going for some time at this stage. It is supposed to be this comprehensive roadmap, but so far very little has been done regarding it.

In one of my earlier contributions, I mentioned some things outside the report that need to be done, but I want to focus on a couple of things inside the report that have not been looked at so far. For example, we have not had proper rent regulation reform or vacant property utilisation. We are talking about what needs to be done regarding urban development, especially in Dublin, but again, there is no concrete plan and no concrete large-scale funding allocated. We still do not have full transparency in terms of land pricing and house prices. We have the housing report in terms of sale prices, but there is no full transparency as to why prices are increasing and by what percentage every year. That needs to be focused on.

I want to refer to something that will come up later, namely the tenants in situ scheme. It needs to be raised in this debate as well. It is not fit for purpose, and I hope to contribute on that later on this evening.

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