Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Deputy Crawford has seven minutes remaining.

Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

One reason I raised the issue of the disabled person's grant is because of a problem experienced by a constituent from County Cavan. My secretarial staff have been trying to deal with it. The constituent made an application for the grant in the first weeks of January 2004 but a decision has yet to be made thereon. This is totally unacceptable. The problem is such that it is absolutely impossible to get an occupational therapist through the county council and Health Service Executive. The Minister should take steps to restructure the system to ensure disabled people's needs are met.

Another very important support for the elderly is the essential repairs grant, which is made available to carry out reroofing or install heating systems. However, it is very limited and subject to much red tape. If the grant system were organised properly, many more people could remain in their homes at a minimum cost to the Exchequer.

The Health Service Executive's support for the installation of toilets, showers etc. could make life easier for people if they received it. There are many people in poor circumstances who are suffering as a result of delays in this regard, and sometimes they do not have the necessary matching funding. This problem is totally unacceptable.

The Minister and others talked about the general progress made in housing. However, it is very clear that house price inflation over the past ten years has been phenomenal. A private house built in Monaghan town in the mid-1990s cost £87,000. It was sold two years later for £140,000 and four years ago it was sold for £260,000. It is difficult to say what it is worth today but it is possibly worth between €400,000 and €500,000. There is no doubt that the only reason for these high prices is the lack of sewerage facilities, which results in many potential sites being frozen for years. The Government must be held responsible for that. In some cases, temporary sewerage facilities have been provided but this in itself increased the price of houses. I emphasise the serious need for proper facilities to be provided in new housing developments, especially facilities for children and young people. In this age of serious anxiety among elderly people living in isolated circumstances, more sheltered housing is a must.

I recognise the work and plans of Monaghan County Council regarding local authority housing. There are approximately 800 families or individuals on the waiting list for such housing. Plans have been in place for the provision of 838 houses between 2004 and 2008. Only 53 became available in 2004, but 277 houses are budgeted for this year. Of the 838 houses, we expect the voluntary sector to provide 342 and Part V of the planning and development legislation to result in approximately 230. However, one can be sure that the price of private houses is such that many more people will be added to the local authority housing list. It is vital that we continue to increase the number of local authority houses provided.

While much good work has been done in Monaghan, I must record my disappointment at the failure to secure eight voluntary houses for the small village of Drum, from where my late mother originated. The voluntary housing group and the Department spent four years planning and bargaining, and thus the owner of the site in question lost patience and sold it to the highest bidder. Consequently, local authority housing has yet to be provided in the village.

As a rural Deputy from County Monaghan, I must point out that planning is still the main problem. While statistics can be used to prove almost anything, the reality is that, at a time of population growth across the country, Monaghan has experienced one of the lowest increases. Vast areas of the county continue to experience a decrease. I welcome the efforts of councillors to develop our new county development plan. Without this and proper sewerage facilities in our towns, site prices and house prices will continue to soar.

It is vital the rural population level be maintained so schools, churches and football clubs can be fully utilised and maintained. It does not make sense to force people out of rural areas, thus leaving structures underutilised and placing young families in crowded circumstances.

The sustainable rural housing guidelines issued on 13 April 2005 are certainly being used against sensible housing development rather than for it. I appreciate it is difficult for one law to be considered acceptable and sensible in all counties. Obviously, what is sensible for parts of Meath and Kildare near the edge of Dublin is not logical in many areas of Monaghan and Cavan. Consider the following example of inconsistency in the planning process. Permission was granted for 12 houses on a certain site some time ago after a long planning debacle. A new owner acquired the site and got permission for 49. It is very hard to explain this to the first owner, who has asked for an explanation. Some individuals obtain permission for significant numbers of houses while others are limited to two. It can be seriously difficult to explain why there is one law in one area and a different one in another. The same applies to hipped gable housing and all sorts of developments.

Fine Gael believes an independent commission on rural housing must be given power to recommend changes to the law, if necessary, in addition to developing feasible policy measures to address this complex issue. It must examine existing planning practice, waste management implications and infrastructural requirements. Fine Gael has a strong housing agenda that will tackle the housing crisis. For first-time buyers, it will abolish stamp duty on properties valued at less that €400,000. It will provide for a SSIA-type saving scheme that will give first-time buyers €1 for every €3 saved for a deposit. It will frontload mortgage interest relief to the first seven years of mortgage payments, thus giving help when it is most needed. It will also reform the social welfare code that currently forces young people out of the family home, adding upward pressure on house rents and prices. The income of parents should no longer be taken into account when deciding on the welfare entitlements of those who remain at home.

Another issue with serious implications for a constituency such as Cavan-Monaghan, which has no third level degree college, is that of student accommodation. I listened with great anxiety to a report to the effect that rental charges are increasing. This imposes an enormous burden on families, including those with members working in manufacturing industries, who have to rent flats for the whole year for their dependants in third level institutions. The increase in the cost of student accommodation must be curtailed. There should be more campus accommodation for students — it should have better facilities and be cheaper.

It is hard to understand in Celtic tiger Ireland why there are so many homeless people on the streets of Dublin. This will have to be dealt with very seriously. There may be individuals with serious problems associated with their having fallen out with their families but we must ensure homelessness is no longer an issue, especially in a country that is supposed to be awash with money. It is being spent on other things.

Homelessness is not just a problem in Dublin city. Certain constituents of mine, who have presented their cases in my office, need homes urgently. There should be a bank of homes that can be made available, at a limited level, to such people.

Charlie O'Connor (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this important issue. I acknowledge the presence of my friend, the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, whose work I am always happy to applaud. I do not want to begin my speech at the end but wish to discuss the development of communities, in particular my community of Tallaght. The presence of the Minister of State reminds me that among the points I wish to stress is the need to consider the continued development of fire services in our county, in particular in the Tallaght area. He has been very supportive in that regard.

It is important that we have taken the opportunity to have this important debate. Housing is an issue that is regularly brought to our attention. As I go about my constituency business — Members will know Dublin South-West embraces not only Tallaght but also Brittas, Firhouse, Templeogue and Greenhills — many people visit my clinic or call to my full-time office in Tallaght to discuss housing which, as other colleagues have noted, also embraces issues such as homelessness and anti-social behaviour. I am sorry it will not be possible to cover all these issues in my short contribution.

It is important the Government understands that housing is a serious issue. When we were young, the first thing we wanted to acquire was a house. I speak as one who moved to the new community in Tallaght with an employer in 1969, having lived in Crumlin and having moved to there from the inner city. The idea of having one's own home and having somewhere to go is very much an Irish tradition. Our policies must try to achieve a situation in which this remains the case for many.

Homelessness is an important issue. In this day and age it is a shame that young people and others are homeless on the streets. As a Dubliner, this greatly concerns me. It also concerns me that homelessness is often hidden in other parts of Dublin, such as Tallaght. If one looks for it, one will find it but it is not as obvious as in the city centre. I am happy to support organisations throughout Dublin which support the homeless and, in this regard, I commend the work of the Tallaght Homeless Advice Unit.

Members have referred to the need for local authority and private housing development. No-one can suggest this issue is no longer a problem. We must continue to apply pressure to ensure housing is delivered. In 2002 South Dublin County Council, of which I am a former chairman, achieved 171 house starts. In 2003 this figure rose to 471 and in 2004 to 585, while there were 129 house starts this year. It is important that all local authorities continue to build houses.

I do not wish to make a political point but when my two colleagues from the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown area made their points on housing, it struck me that Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is behind the other Dublin local authorities in this regard. I hope my colleagues opposite will, as I do when required, put pressure on the controlling groups in the various councils to ensure they deliver what is expected. I am sorry for having to make this point but our communities depend on us with regard to housing.

It is important that local authorities do not simply build houses. Having represented Tallaght and served on committees there over the years, I have often heard the point made that Tallaght for many years had the population of a city but the status of a village. I thank God that this has changed and that huge progress has been made in Tallaght in recent times, certainly since The Square opened some 15 years ago. As the saying goes, much done, more to do. The point must be made to local authorities — I speak in particular for south Dublin and the Tallaght area — that infrastructure and facilities must be built where houses are built. New communities have developed in recent years in my constituency, for example, in Westbrook and the general Tallaght west area, including Ardmore, Carrigmore and Ballycullen. I receive telephone calls daily with regard to deficits in road infrastructure. It is important that local authorities understand that challenges arise in this regard and they must do their job.

I turn to the issue of rented accommodation. I hope my colleague, Deputy Crowe, will not mind me mentioning that he and I both live in Springfield estate in Tallaght, which was developed by McKeown builders in 1972 and in which many of the houses were privately owned. Having bought their houses at fairly cheap rates in 1972, owners were able to take advantage of the price of houses in recent years and there is now a major challenge with regard to the number of rented houses in the estate — I use the word "challenge" advisedly. The Ceann Comhairle will know that Deputy Crowe and I recently put down a joint motion on the Adjournment to discuss the challenges for our local school, St. Mark's of Springfield, where several hundred pupils are of international origin, which creates certain demands.

I am not afraid to point out that while the rent subsidy system has compensated for the lack of permanent housing and has helped many families over the years, not only in Dublin South-West but throughout Dublin and the wider country, it is putting money into a black hole. I am glad that responsibility for the scheme is to pass to the local authorities under the rent accommodation scheme. I hope local authorities — I refer particularly to South Dublin County Council — will take a long, hard look at the system and understand that simply giving out rent subsidies will never allow people to own their homes, as Deputy Catherine Murphy noted, or encourage them to provide wallpaper or carpets for their homes, because they do not own them.

I hope the local authority systems will be stringent. Local authorities should consider the families involved and work to create a situation whereby those families in receipt of rent subsidy would be provided with local authority accommodation. There is no question that building houses through State funding is a far better way to develop than simply giving money to landlords, with all the problems that creates. In that regard, the work of some political activists in my parish gives the parish a bad name. Many good, decent, honest people for one reason or another must seek rented accommodation and they should be assisted. It is important when building communities that we ensure all the normal facilities are put in place that would be expected, given good neighbourhood practices. My local community is no different and no worse than any other but it faces challenges and it is important that South Dublin County Council understands the need for action in this regard.

The Private Residential Tenancies Board has much work to do throughout our communities. I brought to its attention issues which need to be addressed throughout my constituency. I hope the board takes a proactive stance with regard to these issues and understands and helps families that need to integrate into communities.

I wish to stress the importance of keeping pressure on anti-social behaviour. I was reared in a corporation estate in Crumlin a long time ago. I have always been convinced that families who were not prepared to be good neighbours and do everything they should in the community should be subject to sanction by the local authority. In all our communities, not just in my constituency, there is an issue as regards anti-social behaviour. I am debating on the subject of anti-social behaviour orders in Trinity College Dublin tonight. Many people argue they are restrictive and unnecessary. However, where families are being terrorised — often single parent families or elderly people — they are entitled to our support. Until somebody can come up with a better system, we must support the families who tell us they need these types of restrictions.

I appreciate the time the Ceann Comhairle has given me to express some of my views.

Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

In theory it may be possible to have an equal society, but I am not sure whether this can happen in practice. Two elements that can greatly assist us towards aspiring to an equal society are education and housing. I do not believe housing is just about affordability and reaching a certain number of construction units. In the limited time available I want to put my most important points first. There are three slightly related issues I want to raise initially, and I would like the Minister of State and his officials to take cognisance of them.

The first is the impact of density. In recent years there has been a great push towards utilising infrastructure and increasing density. Without any scientific basis for saying this, I believe that this over-emphasis on density is increasing our social problems. I have anecdotal evidence that when Darndale was being constructed a document written by a British sociologist showed this to be the case. I do not know whether such a document exists, but I am told it did. I do not know whether it can be tracked down, but we should carry out some research in that area.

My second concern is the concept of affordable housing. It is populist for all of us to talk about affordable housing and I agree with the general principle. However, the Department should carry out a survey to determine who actually pays for the affordable housing. The State does not pay for it. The developer certainly does not pay for it. I wonder who actually pays for it and I should like to see the impact of affordable housing on the 80% of non-affordable housing.

As regards affordable housing, I have raised in correspondence with the Minister the consequences of the clawback. My understanding is that somebody who might have taken out a loan under sections 9 or 10 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2002 either bought an affordable house from the local authority or obtained a shared ownership loan for affordable housing. If he or she wants to change the mortgage to a financial institution, however, the clawback is on the mortgage, and not on the property, so the market value must be paid at current price levels. I have come across a few such cases. It is unfair and the legislation needs to be amended. Somebody who bought an affordable house for €146,000 just over a year ago under the shared ownership scheme now wishes to change the mortgage only to be told he or she must pay in the region of €220,000 or €230,000 to be able to move the mortgage to a financial institution. I would like the Minister of State to examine that.

I would also like him to examine another issue which is evolving, but which has not received much publicity to date, namely, the tension that can be created within a community when new people move into an area. This is an issue that is only starting to evolve in our society because the population has just begun to increase after almost two centuries. In many towns along the ring around Dublin, Cork or Galway one hears established communities complaining they no longer know their neighbours. While I am not suggesting we will have riots such as those in France as a result, there is a growing tension in some of those towns. I do not know how the problem may be overcome. Perhaps the onus should be on the old community to open its arms and welcome people in rather than having a "them and us" society. When people move into a new area there should be an onus on the developer, perhaps, to furnish them with a development plan or related proposals for the next few years. We have all encountered people who have moved in to what they perceived to be a new estate with green fields all around only to find major building works taking place within a few months that they had never anticipated. We, as public representatives, are familiar with development plans and tend to assume everybody else is also. However, most of the population knows little enough about the subject.

Those three issues are important, namely the impact of density, who pays for the affordable house with the related issue of the clawback and the possible tensions that may evolve in time between new and old communities.

I want to raise a few other points, including local authority housing. The issue of density and reaching certain targets comes into play in this regard. In the last few years there has been an over-emphasis by local authorities on getting a certain number of units constructed. I am not saying we need to go at a snail's pace, but it is important the job is done right. I do not like the concept of many open spaces on existing estates being built on due to a shortage of land banks. It is a short-term gain. I urge the Minister of State to encourage local authorities to build houses but not to crack the whip in the hope they will reach a certain number.

Another issue of concern is the buy-out of local authority houses. I am sure it is the same within all local authorities that when someone buys out a house he or she gets maximum relief of 3% a year for a ten year period, equivalent to 30%. I do not know whether he or she qualifies for the first-time buyer's grant as well. It is now gone, but maybe it is built in as an allowance. Someone might have bought such a house in an estate five or six years ago for €50,000 or €60,000 and received the relief. Now a neighbour might seek to buy it and finds the house is costing €170,000 or €180,000 due to inflation in the housing market. This needs to be examined.

Some families have lived in houses of this type for 20, 30 and more years, paying rent. An extension of buy-out relief for local authority houses needs to be examined. It is not going to cost the State anything. These are houses that remain in the possession of the families concerned. Many elderly people want to buy out their houses so their children may have them. This should be reviewed so that the 3% relief is carried on consistently up to 90% of the cost of the house perhaps. Many of these people have paid the equivalent of the house's market value in rent over the years, time and again.

When local authorities are planning developments these should contain a certain complement of single-storey houses of one and two bedrooms for the elderly or for people who want to return from abroad. That same stipulation should be included in private developments. Again, due to the growth in population there has been a rapid increase in the number of houses under construction, particularly in proximity to cities. I have always been a great advocate of the need to welcome new people into an area. It is nice to mix the blood, so to speak, and introduce new housing. However, in many smaller towns existing infrastructure cannot cope with the traffic. For reasons of street landscape, topography etc. it is not found to be cost-effective to put the necessary infrastructure in place to ensure people can move around relatively freely, as in the past. We have got to examine the concept of new towns in every county surrounding Dublin. There is an area outside Greystones called Charlesland, with 1,400 houses. In effect it is a new town, although it does not have schools etc. and people must get the shuttle bus into Greystones. There comes a time when we must stop adding on to certain towns and look at the alternatives. Let there be a new town created in north Kildare, south Meath, north-east or north-west Wicklow or wherever to cater for the population. The local authority concerned should be proactive, buy the land, tender a certain amount for private development, for commercial use and so on.

I want to finish up by addressing two issues. One is about the funding for infrastructure in the mid-east region. The Minister of State might not be aware, but a report is to be submitted shortly to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government outlining how the mid-east region of Meath, Kildare and Wicklow has been underfunded relative to other areas over a period of time. Between 1996 and 2002, the funding went from 81% per head of population to 70%. I do not want to get into conflict with other regions, but I have listened to many pressure groups moaning and groaning about the difficulties they encounter. In the mid east, we have the population, the houses and all the consequential difficulties that they bring, but we have not got the funding commensurate with that increase in population. Most of the people that have moved there actually work in Dublin. Around 76% of those in the mid east region in 2002 that were not there in 2001 come from Dublin. I welcome them, but we must have the infrastructure in place to deal with them because the lack of it is causing difficulties for the communities that were already there.

I do not know if the rural housing guidelines are proving to be effective. The first anniversary of these guidelines are coming up next May, so the Minister should take a look at their effectiveness or otherwise. My experience is that planners will use every mechanism in the book to prevent the building of houses in rural areas. They will find some element in the small print to block the construction of such houses.

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this debate today. The manner in which the debate is structured is broad and far reaching. The housing market in Ireland has changed significantly in recent years. This debate spans many of those changes. The housing market has changed for several reasons. There has been a significant increase in the population. We have smaller families, with more family units and so on. From the early 1960s to the early part of this century, the population grew from less than 3 million to more than 4 million. We have also had a significant movement of the population to the greater Dublin area, amongst other areas.

One abiding issue is that demand has far exceeded the supply, resulting in the increase in house prices. However, for the past seven or eight years, housing output and completions have increased annually. There are just under 80,000 housing unit completions per annum. Members from the Opposition will say they are not all available for housing, because some of them are holiday homes and so on. I acknowledge that, but it is still a very significant figure. Deputy Timmins spoke about the contribution under Part V of the Planning Act and asked who paid for it in the long run. It must be stated that house prices are completely a function of supply versus demand. They are not directly related to the cost of construction and site and development levies. We have all seen houses go on the market at a certain price and within a short period of time, the price has increased significantly. The price of houses is certainly a function of the price the market will bear. In any realistic debate, that is an important point to remember.

It is worth acknowledging that many individuals have gained from the increase in house prices. It has increased their equity and they have used it to invest in other properties and so on. It has added a degree of security and pension entitlements for those individuals. This is one aspect of house price increases that is positive. On the other hand, I acknowledge that there are difficulties for those trying to enter the market for the first time. Those difficulties are precisely because of the increase in house prices. In last year's budget, the Minister for Finance changed stamp duty for first time buyers of houses. While some people have been critical, claiming that it was not significant, I have met a number of individuals who have bought second-hand houses that they could only dream about before. Instead of buying a new house in a new housing estate in areas that do not have many new houses, it afforded them the opportunity to reside in their own communities. The threshold was set at €317,000. It was supposed to reflect what the average house price was for first time buyers. Those prices have gone up in the intervening 12 months and I hope the threshold will be changed in the forthcoming budget. The same number of people accommodated last year should be accommodated. The policy should not change, but the figure should reflect the average price for a first time buyer.

Affordable housing falls into a number of different categories. Part V of the Planning and Development Act is often mentioned, but I would first refer to some specific Government initiatives and how different Departments have addressed the issue. Yesterday, the Minister for Agriculture and Food responded to a question on the affordable housing initiative with regard to her Department. Many Dublin people would wonder why the Minister for Agriculture and Food has an impact on this issue. She stated that her Department had identified six sites for consideration, in Counties Cork, Dublin, Galway and Kildare. The sites in Cork were located in Clonakilty and Model Farm Road in Cork city. Sites in Dublin were located in Harcourt Terrace, Dublin city and in the townland of Backstown near Lucan. She stated that the county council is progressing the project in Clonakilty as a matter of priority and that it has gone through the local consultation process in developing a model rural village near the town. She stated that the Government had noted the progress on the site in Harcourt Terrace in Dublin city and that the site is subject to a land-swap, whereby South Dublin County Council will receive completed housing in lieu of the site. The other sites are at various stages of assessment by the local authorities. When we refer to affordable housing, we only think of what is being done under Part V of the planning Act, when much more is actually being done.

The Harcourt Terrace site will be vacated by the Department at the end of the current year, according to the Minister. The laboratory activities there will be relocated. The land-swap will see South Dublin County Council receive 193 completed housing units early next year in Clondalkin. The significance of this deal is that it is fast tracking affordable housing. I cannot say the same has always been achieved under Part V, but this under this deal 193 units have been fast-tracked that would not have been delivered in such a manner.

However, affordable housing is also being developed in my local area under Part V of the Planning and Development Act. To date, a significant number of families has bought and moved into new homes in my area. More are to do likewise in the coming year. It is regrettable to say that the same has not happened in every local authority area. There is an onus on all locally elected councillors and council management to deal with this issue and to implement in a meaningful way Part V of the Act in order to provide affordable houses locally. I regret that has not happened.

With regard to my area of South Dublin County Council, early in October, the Minster for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, officially opened what is referred to as the property path. It is a new housing sales office in the county hall in Tallaght, Dublin 24. It is a contemporary sales office which creates a modern, welcoming and helpful environment for people buying their first home and is an innovation on the part of the housing department of South Dublin County Council. In other words, it is like entering an estate agent's office. The office offers affordable housing, shared ownership purchase and tenant purchase homes. It deals with customers from their initial exploratory information requirements all the way through to the provision of information on the availability of new affordable housing developments. Hence, rather than simply telephoning to ask what is available, one can go to that office where one will be shown the plans and what is becoming available. Before one fills out an application form, one will meet what in commercial terms could be described as a sales agent, who will explain it. It is innovative and I was deeply impressed by this development. As a public representative, I have no hesitation in referring constituents to the Property Path sales office to see what is available and it will provide the initial information. As usual, constituents return looking for assistance with the completion of forms and so forth, but it has been absolutely innovative and I encourage other local authorities to do likewise.

I also wish to discuss the issue of social housing and the council's housing programme. In the time available, I want to examine its housing construction programme but as I do, I also wish to comment that local authorities have a responsibility in respect of their existing housing stock and tenants and how they are treated. Many of those houses are quite old and were built at a time when there was no insulation, no double glazing and no central heating.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Deputy's time has concluded.

John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I will conclude by acknowledging that my local authority has been particularly proactive in respect of its existing tenants with regard to the installation of central heating, double glazing and insulation. Half of the projects have been completed and the remainder will be carried out over the coming years.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

In 1973, the former Labour Party Minister for Local Government, Jim Tully, gave local authority tenants the right to purchase their own homes. This constituted a fundamental social advance. I make that point as someone who, unlike most Members, grew up in a rented house and who knows how important it is for people to have the right to buy their own homes.

Currently, the Government is at times akin to a rabbit transfixed in the headlights of a car as far as the housing issue is concerned. On the one hand, it seeks to meet the ever-rising requirements of greed on the part of builders and developers, who are particularly associated with Fianna Fáil, and on the other hand ensure that owning a house as a human right is something to which every young adult in Ireland can legitimately aspire. Fianna Fáil in particular, albeit with the support of the PDs, has got the balance wrong. Currently, Fianna Fáil is not organising the housing market to benefit buyers. Members should remember that as recently as ten years ago, nurses, gardaí and county council officials could aspire to purchasing a house in their mid to late 20s. Moreover, by a house I mean a three bedroomed house with a garden, where such people could hope to rear a family. In many ways, the market has been excessively overheated by the current Administration in order to meet the requirements of its friends in the building industry. In doing so, it has done a particular disservice to young people setting out to set up homes and start families.

I wish to make a number of specific points. The Government and many local authorities have set up a system in respect of new housing developments to build the right to have a management committee into the planning permission. That management company or committee is then permitted to charge a substantial annual fee to young people for the most part, who have just bought a new house or apartment. In Dublin West, the fee can range from between €400 to €600 per annum initially, but as the years go by, it increases to between €800 and €1,200 per annum. That is a major imposition on new homeowners who struggle to meet large mortgages.

This is privatisation of local authority services by the back door. I wish to draw the Minister's attention to the Tyrellstown estate in my constituency, where something in the order of 2,000 homes have been built by one company. Tyrellstown has been split into approximately eight separate management companies. Last summer, the water supply to that estate failed when there was a scare with regard to potential contamination. The county council was obliged to close the water supply to the houses and to bring in tankers over an extended period of a number of weeks. When I sought information from the county manager, it emerged the council was not in control of the public water supply. Instead, the management companies, which in many cases consist of the builder and his brother or the foreman's son and relatives when completing the houses, were in control and something went wrong. It was extremely difficult to induce the council to correct the problem.

Similarly, some green spaces, public roads and public lighting are under the control of management companies. In some instances, insurance companies ask management companies, which are ultimately meant to be the residents, to pay public liability insurance on public open green spaces. This is a scandal. When questioned by the leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Rabbitte, the Taoiseach agreed it was wrong that management companies should own the public open spaces, water supply and so on. He stated he would do something about it. Recently however, his colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, informed me that he is merely asking local authorities to send him a report about conditions attaching to planning permissions for various types of residential developments which incorporate these management companies. When, at some point in the future, he receives their responses, the Minister will then consider the matter. Thereafter, the Law Reform Commission will also examine the issue.

This is an area in which young people are being ruthlessly scammed by the friends of Fianna Fáil in the building industry. Young people, who have just become homeowners, are charged enormous annual fees for management services in respect of homes and estates which previously have been in the care of local authorities once the estate was taken in charge. Hence, we have the ironic situation whereby expensive private estates built throughout the country are taken into charge properly by the local authorities, while people in affordable houses are charged a ransom fee for public services that should be provided by the local authority. This issue must be addressed.

I also wish to mention a new poverty trap which has developed under the Fianna Fáil-PD Government and which is galloping apace. Because local authorities have moved away from building social housing, people who were traditionally on housing lists and who, after five or six years, had some expectation of a local authority house, are now going into the private rented sector where their rent is supplemented by the community welfare officer. This creates a poverty trap in that an individual, such as a lone parent on a local authority housing list, who is in receipt of rent supplement worth up to €200 per week — the private landlord will receive €600, €800 or €1,000 per month from the community welfare officer for privately renting the dwelling — cannot afford to move into employment because he or she would need to secure a job offering a wage of €500 or €600 per week to afford the private rent. A person who has not been in employment for a couple of years will not be able to make the leap to buying an affordable house.

This is a new poverty trap being perfected by the Government. Its beneficiaries are not the poor, unfortunate people on the housing list but the investors in the private housing sector who can not only outbid a couple seeking to buy a house but are being financed by the Government to keep those on local authority housing lists out of employment. I do not know how the Government proposes to sort out some of the messes it has created to benefit its friends.

In Fingal County Council and other local authorities those residing in local authority dwellings who join community or social employment schemes are subject to rent increases of €8 per week in the first year and €20 per week in the second and subsequent years of participation in the scheme. This is another poverty trap. While the Minister informed me in reply to a parliamentary question that he does not advise local authorities to apply this practice, they nonetheless continue to do so, thereby creating another poverty trap. It is wrong that the Government is creating barriers to home ownership rather than helping people to get into employment and purchase their own homes. The Labour Party legislated in this House for the right of people to buy their own home. Unfortunately, the Fianna Fáil Party is acting for the builders and restricting access to home ownership.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I wish to respond to a number of issues raised by Deputy Burton.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Will the Minister of State also speak at the conclusion of the debate?

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

No. As a member of a local authority, Deputy Burton opposed every zoning which came before her.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

That is not true.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

If she had her way, her constituents would have to live outside their locality.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

On a point of order, the Minister of State is talking rubbish.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context

That is not a point of order.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Deputy had her say.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

He knows nothing about my——

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I ask Deputy Burton to resume her seat and allow the Minister of State to continue without interruption.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Deputy Burton's policy throughout her career as a member of a local authority was shambolic, idiotic, nonsensical, vacillating, irreverent of the people she represents and politically opportunistic.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Fianna Fáil's champion was the late Deputy Lawlor and his cohorts.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The stench of corruption is appalling.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

If Deputy Burton had her way, young people in her constituency would have nowhere to live. The Deputy raised the issue of social housing and accused the Government of failing to build social houses.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Where are they?

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

In 2005, funding to local authorities for their housing programmes amounts to €1.3 billion, an increase of more than 20% on the 2004 outturn. This figure represents a sevenfold increase in the past ten years. Total capital expenditure on social and affordable housing output in 2005, inclusive of non-Exchequer financing, will amount to approximately €2 billion. Clearly, the Deputy will not accept these figures.

This improved funding will mean approximately 5,500 local authority houses can be started in the year ahead compared to an average of 4,700 units in each of the past three years. The Deputy should give the Government some credit for this development. In 2005, it is anticipated that the needs of in excess of 13,000 households will be met from the same measure. It is also anticipated that a number of households currently in private rented accommodation will transfer to the new rental accommodation scheme being introduced. The households in question will continue to be accommodated primarily in the private sector.

I do not propose to discuss in detail the voluntary or co-operative sectors. It is important to place on record the lack of consistency in the Labour Party's approach to ensuring land is available for young people.

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

When the Labour Party was in power people could buy a house, but that is no longer the case.

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Government seeks to ensure that young people have a good future living in homes in a sustainable environment. It will ensure that strong demand for housing, which is due to demographic factors and economic success, continues and will concentrate for the foreseeable future on implementing policies which will meet this demand.

The most recent housing report published by the Economic and Social Research Council endorsed the Government's general approach to housing policy, while highlighting important policy challenges ahead, including the need for high quality, sustainable development in urban and rural areas which the report stated would assist the market in maintaining supply. It also noted the need to provide the necessary supports to those who fall below the affordability threshold.

In this era of unprecedented housing output we must also ensure we do not neglect the quality of housing. We face challenges in terms of incorporating innovative approaches, particularly in design and the use of materials in ways which reflect the long-term life of housing. Sustainable Energy Ireland recently published a draft action plan for the implementation of the energy performance of buildings directive. One of the main features of the plan is that buildings, including dwellings, will require energy rating in future. This will provide an incentive to incorporate in new buildings progressive energy features, including solar panels, condensing boilers and renewable technologies.

Experience to date suggests that the timber frame is significant in the house building industry. Timber is one of the most traditional construction materials and modern timber frame construction, as developed in recent decades, is a highly engineered product. Widespread use of this form of construction for housing is relatively new here. Nevertheless, its use has increased significantly in recent years, during which time timber frame has secured an increased share of an expanding housing market.

To examine ways of supplementing traditional methods of housing provision with a view to achieving the level of output envisaged in the national development plan, the Department commissioned an independent study on the use of timber frame housing in Irish conditions. The consultants have completed their report and a period of consultation with the construction industry has concluded. The Department is considering the submissions received. The construction of dwellings such as timber frame housing will contribute significantly to the range of information to be considered.

Sustainable Energy Ireland, through its House of Tomorrow programme, aims to accelerate improvements in the quality and energy features in housing. It will do this by funding projects and researching, developing and demonstrating more sustainable energy practices. Its focus is to stimulate the widespread uptake of superior sustainable energy planning, design, specification and construction practices in the new home building and home improvement markets.

Housing activity in Cork city and county, from where I come, has reached record levels in recent years. Approximately 8,000 housing units were completed in the area last year, almost double the level of activity in 1997 and 44% above output levels achieved in 2000. The market alone cannot address all housing needs, so we are making record levels of funding available for social housing programmes to meet the needs of those households unable to provide for themselves. This year, some €105 million in capital funding, an unparalleled level of provision representing a record increase of 3.5% on 2004, was allocated to the local authority housing programme in Cork city and county. Those funds will cover expenditure on the 760 housing units under construction at more than 25 different locations throughout the region as well as the 600 units expected to be completed this year under the local authority programme.

Between 1997 and 2004, we made in excess of €410 million available to housing authorities in the Cork area for construction programmes. Those funds resulted in almost 4,000 housing starts in the period. More than 3,600 units of accommodation were completed in the same period. Our activity is not confined to the provision of new units. We continue to invest significant funds in renewing and regenerating existing estates. Work is now complete on phase 1 of the Glen regeneration project in Cork city at a cost of €18 million. It involved the construction of 47 dwellings and an old folk's centre and the refurbishment of 66 existing dwellings. Cork City Council is now planning for phase 2 of the project. The cost of the entire Glen regeneration scheme is estimated at €50 million.

There are also proposals for regeneration in Knocknaheeny in Cork city. It is proposed that 513 housing units be refurbished, 88 demolished and an additional 337 new units provided on local authority land. The plan also provides for health, education, community and social facilities, and work commenced on block D in Knocknaheeny this year. Some 32 affordable housing units were delivered under the Sustaining Progress affordable housing initiative in April 2005 at Buckley's Field in Blackrock. Those units have all now been occupied. Further units are under construction in several other sites in Cork, including Blackpool and Castletreasure.

In 2004, the Department repaid €45.7 million to local authorities for accommodation and related services for homeless persons, compared with only €12.5 million in 1999. This year, the Department is providing €51 million for that purpose, bringing to €236.3 million the amount spent on such services since 2000. That will allow continued consolidation and progress to be made in tackling the issue via implementation of the homeless strategies. A review of the operation of the homeless integrated and preventative strategies has been carried out by Fitzpatrick Associates and we will be able to publish its outcome in the next few weeks. Services funded by my Department for the homeless in Cork are provided through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the Simon Community, the Good Shepherd and the Sisters of Charity.

Action is being taken by the Government across a wide range of housing needs. We are meeting demand, and the level that exists is unbelievable. However, the Government is working well in tandem with people's needs and we are successful in what we are trying to achieve.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am sharing time with Deputies Gogarty and Gregory.

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

A constituency colleague has already addressed the factual situation regarding social and affordable housing, at least partly with relevance to Cavan-Monaghan, so I will focus on the ever-spiralling cost of houses, now out of reach of so many young couples, even dual income partners. I viewed the opening speech of Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, as self-congratulatory. It completely ignored the spiralling price of homes. According to the National Economic and Social Council housing report, up to a third of all new households, almost 14,000 annually, formed in the period 2001 to 2006 would fall below the affordability threshold. That was as high as 42% in some urban areas.

When we consider average house prices for the quarter ending in June 2005, we see that for new homes, there was an annual increase of 11.8% throughout the State. The average price is now €275,394. In Dublin, there was an increase of 7.4%, bringing the average price to provide a home to €346,683. For second-hand houses, the State-wide figure of €332,151 represented a 10.1% increase. In Dublin, the average price was €440,520, a 10.3% increase. These are substantial increases and they have been downplayed by the Government to the extent that the media have not given the matter the attention that it deserves. It affects all families and everyone throughout the country, irrespective of their politics.

The cost to the State of property tax incentives, such as section 23 and section 50 tax relief, is unknown to the Department of Finance, something that I have questioned on numerous occasions at the Committee on Finance and the Public Service. However, the information has not been forthcoming. Their impact in terms of increasing house prices is not being taken into account. They pit investors against first-time buyers. Let us make no mistake. It is the latter group that is losing out. There is, therefore, a strong case for the abolition of those reliefs.

The standard conservative solution and the approach adopted by the Government to the house price crisis is to rely on the supposition that with the current high level of output, balance between supply and demand can be achieved in the course of this decade so that house prices stabilise and, consequently, affordability issues are resolved. However, that view is strongly contradicted by the NESC report which states that "the number of people eager to purchase a home but unable to do so under market conditions is unlikely to get smaller". For example, any improvement in affordability due to further reductions in the rate of increase in house prices and the catch-up in earnings relative to them is likely to be more than offset by interest rate rises.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, spoke of resting on his laurels, but he has none to rest on in this regard. The Government has done nothing to address house prices since entering office, and that is what is causing universal hardship for young couples today. It must be tackled, and I urge the Minister to do so.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I very much welcome this opportunity to make a statement on the current housing crisis, although I would have preferred it if the time had been used more profitably to debate proper legislation on housing that might make it easier for people to afford a home and more difficult for investors to buy up seven, eight or nine houses, as they are doing in my constituency, essentially pricing the average person out of the market.

The example of the milkman who could afford to buy a house outright at the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1970s is sometimes used. Nowadays, it is much more difficult for a single person, unless one is a Member of the House earning a high salary, to get a house on one's own. Even ten years ago, for example, a teacher could buy a house alone. Now they must share houses. They move in with friends or buy houses with siblings because they cannot get a house on their own. Part of the reason lies in Government policy.

The Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, referred to the Government moving to tackle the housing crisis. There has been movement similar to the way a turtle moves towards the sea, and that is not quick enough. House prices have risen largely because of the incentives given to private investors who are competing successfully with the first-time buyers. Every time an investor goes up against a first-time buyer, the investor wins. They have more resources and can pitch up the price a little more. In Dublin in particular, house prices overall have risen because the investors can afford to pay them. They are the ones getting the mortgages on the basis of their existing equity whereas the first-time buyer must scrimp and scrape.

It has reached the point where 110% mortgages for houses are available in some circumstances and while the current Celtic tiger economy might allow for that, the fact is that economic downturns do and will happen. The Celtic tiger economy is no more the product of the efforts of this Government or those of any other Government except on a macroeconomic scale, but I will concede that when the downturn occurs, it will not necessarily be the fault of Fianna Fáil. It is a cycle, however. It will happen and unless we prepare for it, and this is where the Government is responsible, many couples will face interest rate hikes and a situation will arise similar to that in London in the 1980s. We do not want that to happen.

How do we tackle this problem? It is a complex issue but the first step is to follow the recommendations of the NESC and forget about rent allowance. There are many houses in my constituency whose occupants receive rent allowance and they will never be able to afford their own house. Unless we bring more properly developed houses on-stream with access to public transport infrastructure and a social mix, more ghettos will be created which will result in an increase in crime. We must examine the way houses are planned and developed and forget this charade of wasting Government money by paying rent allowance to people who will never own their own house. We must forget, as the NESC said, about building more social houses on their own. The solution is for the affordable housing and shared ownership schemes to hold sway, and Government funding must be allocated to that area.

Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I listened carefully to the Minister, Deputy Roche, in the faint hope that he might announce some radical measure to address what for many of our citizens is a housing crisis but, as expected, there was not even an indication that the Minister was conscious of there being a major housing issue. There was no admission from him that the breathtaking cost of houses and the massive increases in prices which have spiralled out of control in recent years are unjustifiable and demand action. Neither was there any admission that the scandal of homelessness is a black mark on the record of this State, as are the lengthy waiting lists for local authority housing. There was no mention of the profiteers who lurk in the background and engage in racketeering in new house prices and land values, while a small number of multi-millionaires control the bulk of development land in the Dublin region. That does not appear to be an issue for either the Minister, Deputy Roche, or the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition. What is the reason for that?

Extreme profiteering activities are unsustainable and unjustifiable and no amount of tinkering with the system will change that. While developers and builders manipulate and control the housing market in a manner which allows them to maximise their vast profits, the number of unfortunate people joining the local authority housing waiting lists increases steadily. The average price of a house in Dublin is well in excess of €300,000, which is out of the reach of the average worker. Affordable housing for many of our citizens is a meaningless term while the latest phenomenon is the increasing number of new housing schemes advertised in property supplements which feature prices starting far in excess of €1 million.

For a rapidly increasing number of families, owning a home of their own is a distant mirage. Frustrating years lie ahead for them on a local authority waiting list while they are forced to live in overcrowded and sub-standard conditions in some landlord's property. For a minority, however, there is an ever-increasing choice of lavish properties in gated enclaves with prices ranging from €2 million. This extreme social inequality is the most corrupting influence in Ireland today, yet it appears to fit very comfortably with the political philosophy of the Fianna Fáil-Progressive Democrats coalition.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate on housing. The Deputies opposite must be living on a different planet because there is no housing crisis where I live in County Laois. I was stunned to hear them talk about a housing crisis. In the past ten years alone, 500,000 new houses have been built. New house completions for last year and this year are in the order of 77,000. It beggars belief how any Deputy could talk about a lack of housing. Are some Deputies suggesting that 100,000 houses should be built per annum? The number of houses being built is unheard of——

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

We should build at least 20,000 social and affordable units, not the 6,000 being provided.

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

——relative to the size of the country. I will deal shortly with the point raised by the Deputy and where the responsibility and blame lies for not delivering on social housing.

Every year for the past five years I have heard the so-called experts say that the housing output will have to drop, that we have reached saturation point, that demand has been exceeded and that there will be a slump. I have heard that year in, year out. Those economists and other experts do not understand what has happened here. With interest rates having fallen in recent years, many more people are in a position to buy houses because their mortgage repayments are lower than they would otherwise have been when I and other Members had to take out mortgages in previous decades. At a minimum, 50,000 to 60,000 immigrants per annum are coming to work here because of our strong economy and they all must be housed. Apart from any other considerations, at least 20,000 houses per annum will need to be provided for the people coming to work here. That is aside from the normal population increase. That has resulted in prices moderating recently.

There are new, three bedroom, semi-detached houses on the market in different towns and villages throughout County Laois starting at €175,000, approximately £140,000, which is excellent value for money. That brings me to the question the Deputy opposite raised about the number of social housing units being provided. The blame for the lack of delivery of social housing rests 100% on the shoulders of the local authorities.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

What is the Minister doing if that is the case?

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I will tell the Deputy. In each of the past few years in County Laois alone, and we are a small county, considerably more than 1,000 new houses have been built. Record numbers of local authority houses are being built. A total of 300 houses per annum are being built through the local authority. With the Part V provision in terms of the builders in the county, we are now in a situation whereby in parts of Laois there are not enough people to take up new social housing units. We have fully satisfied the demand in several parts of County Laois and are now taking people in from all the neighbouring counties and from outside the country as well. In Graiguecullen, for example, hundreds of new houses are being built and dozens are coming through the Part V system. The local authority is aware we do not have people to take up these social housing units and most of them are being allocated to the affordable housing scheme. The only issue I would ask the Government to take on board is to increase the income limit for people to allow them qualify for affordable housing because the limit is quite tight.

Year in, year out I listen to people whingeing about lack of money for the essential repairs and the disabled person's grants. The sole reason there is a lack of money for those grants in most counties is because the local authorities are controlled by people who will not allocate sufficient moneys in the annual estimates or draw down the funding from the Department. If a local authority assigns €100,000 for the provision of essential repairs or the disabled person's grant, for example, it will receive €200,000 from the Department. If it assigns €1 million, it will draw down €2 million, as has been done in County Laois. There are counties with populations three or four times that of County Laois in which local authorities have assigned less for those schemes in their estimates. Members from these counties then whinge that the Government does not provide sufficient resources, but it is their own party councillors in the local authorities who have allocated insufficient funding in their estimates to look after people in their area. I have seen first-hand evidence of this.

Laois is one of the few counties where there has been a significant reduction in the numbers on the waiting list for housing. The statistics in this regard were presented by the Minister, Deputy Roche, some months ago. Laois is top of the list in terms of building and has provided way above the allocation assigned to it in the five-year housing programme. Other councils, for a variety of reasons, did not get on with the job in hand. Instead, they procrastinated and protested that voluntary and social housing could not be situated in particular locations. That procrastination continues and the waiting lists persist.

The administration of the rental subsidy scheme should be a matter entirely for the housing authority in each area, which is the local authority. It is not the function of the Health Service Executive to administer funding for housing in cities, towns and rural areas. The executive has far more important work to undertake and its staff more pressing concerns. The local authorities should be given total responsibility in this regard. Currently, an individual seeking rental subsidy often must deal with both the local authority and the HSE. This unnecessary duplication should be eradicated.

There is no housing crisis in Laois and Offaly. There is, however, a shortage of houses in many local authorities and that is the fault of local representatives and management of the authorities. Instead of getting on with the job with the funding that is available, they complain that the waiting lists are increasing. There has never been a cutback in funding through the local authority for housing construction in County Laois. In that county, more than 1,000 housing units are being built in the private sector per annum. These figures can easily be verified by HomeBond and other agencies. I appeal to Members to come and see what is being done in Laois. New three-bedroom houses are for sale for €175,000 in beautiful towns and villages throughout the county. I cannot understand why other local authorities, if they take the same initiative, cannot achieve the same.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

There are 60,000 families on waiting lists.

Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Deputy Fleming referred to the duplication of responsibility in regard to the rental subsidy scheme. The same applies to the essential repairs scheme, the disabled person's grant and other schemes. Some are dealt with by local authorities and others by the HSE. The Deputy claims there has been no cutback in funding. More than a year ago, however, the local authority in my area had to inform all applicants it could not consider their applications further because there were no funds to complete the programme.

I have dealt with constituents who have experienced problems when, for example, they applied for the disabled person's grant for the purposes of installing a shower and bedroom downstairs because they could no longer make it upstairs. One case was delayed so long as a consequence of the red tape and the lack of finance that, unfortunately, the couple concerned had passed away before the extension for which they had applied could be built.

This is the harsh reality. The Minister gave a fine speech that was high on aspiration but completely devoid of new initiatives on housing. The figures from Permanent TSB and the ESRI show the average price paid for a house nationally in September 2005 was €268,040. In County Laois, according to Deputy Fleming, that figure is very much lower. The average prices paid for a house in Dublin and outside Dublin in September were €356,220 and €231,425, respectively. Several Members on the other side of the House, including the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, Deputy Ó Cuív, asked what the Opposition parties had done in this area. In 1996, the last full year in which Fine Gael was in office, the average price paid for a home was €88,000 in Dublin and €75,000 nationally. One should look at these figures if one is interested in comparing like with like.

The Minister claims the Government has a strong record on housing. This is the Government that abolished the first-time buyer's grant, failed to meet its commitments on social housing in the national development plan and, in the budget before last, increased VAT by 1% on building materials for housing, at a cost of €12,000 to home buyers. It made some slight compensation in the last budget in copying part — though not, unfortunately, all — of Fine Gael's policy on stamp duty. The €317,500 threshold, however, is lower than the average cost of a second-hand home and is, therefore, of little use.

I have some personal experience of the difficulties in this regard. My daughter, who works as a nurse in Dublin, got married recently and wishes to purchase a home in the capital. She and her husband viewed a two-bedroom, ex-local authority, terraced house in County Dublin. They initially bid the guide price of €250,000 but the price rose in increments until it reached €300,000. The party bidding against them then went from €300,000 to €317,500 to close the deal without exceeding the stamp duty threshold. In other words, where there is competition among prospective buyers, this measure has driven the cost of houses below €317,500 up to that threshold.

Where there are two bidders, one is inclined to jump suddenly to the price below which he or she is still ineligible for stamp duty. My daughter and her husband, who are first-time buyers, could not exceed the threshold and render themselves liable for the duty. The threshold should more realistically be set at approximately €450,000. However, I have doubts as to the usefulness of this scheme even if such a change is made. I considered it a great idea when it was introduced but it has not been so successful in practical terms.

The 2002 programme for Government pledged to assist the voluntary housing sector so that the target of 4,000 accommodation units per annum envisaged under the national development plan could be reached. In 2004, 1,607 voluntary housing units were built, even less than the figure for 2003. Only 187 affordable housing units were completed last year under the Part V provisions. The Minister made play in his contribution about the great Harcourt Terrace deal, as he calls it, where he swapped a site of half an acre for 193 affordable houses in south County Dublin. The Minister must provide clarification on this. If a builder is supplying 193 affordable houses in south County Dublin, given the cost of that site and the provision of housing there, one wonders at what price those affordable houses were sold. If they were sold at €200,000, that puts a cost of €38 million on the half acre site on Harcourt Terrace. As developers are not fools, the Minister need not praise himself for that deal. No builder would invest such an amount if the site was not zoned for residential purposes. If a builder builds 38 apartments on the site, they would have to cost at least €1 million to simply cover the site price. This is only driving the housing market further.

This is as a result of amendments to the 2002 development Act, due to lobbying from builders. Under the amended Act builders do not have to give 25% of the houses in an estate over to social housing purposes. Instead, they can provide the social housing units anywhere in the local authority area, or provide part land or money. In County Galway, any developer building an estate near Galway city where land is valuable will fulfil his or her obligation by providing the 25% social housing in Glenamaddy, Headford, Tuam or Ballinasloe or Williamstown, some 60 miles away from the development. This is forcing people out of the population centre of Galway city to far-flung areas of the county. It is adding to more traffic on the roads, resulting in hold-ups and frustration for young families working far away from where they are living. By that concession, the Minister has worsened the problem. So much for his claim he got a great deal. I want clarification of the prices of the houses finished in both areas.

Fine Gael believes a range of measures are required to address the affordability gap in housing which prevents people with incomes from buying their own homes. Innovative ways are needed to tackle supply and demand. Our policy for first-time buyers would be to introduce a house deposit saving scheme, similar to SSIAs to help young people saving for a deposit on a house purchase. First-time buyers would receive €1 for every €3 they save, provided the savings are invested as a deposit on a house. It will encourage people to save, ensuring they would have the deposit for a house. In most cases, as parents will know, when our offspring are trying to buy a house, it is the parents who put up the deposit. There is no incentive for young people who go on three holidays a year instead of saving for a deposit for a house purchase.

Fine Gael wants an independent commission on rural one-off housing which must be given powers to recommend changes in the law if necessary, as well as developing feasible policy measures to address this complex issue. The recently-issued Government guidelines on one-off rural housing were only a gimmick for the local elections, meaning nothing in the end. Often the planning offices of local authorities must deal with the reality of their own county development plans before planning permission can be granted. The guidelines are just another fake from the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Having regard to the substantial economic growth of recent years, the increase in population and the levels of inward migration, the provision of housing is a challenge for the Government. The Government has increased housing supply as the key response to the broad range of housing needs and demands. It has ensured that more than 500,000 housing units, an equivalent to one third of the total housing stock, were completed in the last decade. It is facilitating the tenth successive year of record housing completions through the addition of 77,000 new houses in 2004 and establishing Ireland in the lead position within the EU for the provision of new houses.

The Government is strengthening and extending social and affordable housing programmes for which €2 billion is available in 2005. It is bringing forward five year housing action plans by local authorities for 2004 to 2008 to co-ordinate, accelerate and bring together integration and action on housing at local level, with particular reference to social and affordable housing measures. In addition, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is prioritising and advancing the special initiative on housing and accommodation under Sustaining Progress which will deliver more than 10,000 affordable houses through the affordable housing initiative and Part V of the Planning and Development Acts 2000 to 2004. He is ensuring, through the housing forum, an effective engagement with the social partners.

He is enhancing tax allowances to assist first-time buyers and is improving the operation of the private rented sector through the introduction of new legislation and the establishment of the Private Residential Tenancies Board. The Government is introducing a rental accommodation scheme to provide improved and more secure arrangements for supplementary welfare allowance recipients with long-term housing needs. An integrated strategy will be implemented and developed on homelessness, effective programmes for Traveller accommodation and an expanded role for the voluntary and co-operative housing sector.

Last December's NESC report on housing set out a radical blueprint to deal with the lack of social housing in Dublin and other parts of the country. The NESC addressed the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment and Local Government following the publication of its report. It clearly identified housing as a major national challenge, laying great emphasis on the provision of social housing. The target of 72,000 additional social houses over the next eight years is ambitious and one which must be met. Today, I received a pre-budget submission from the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. It has requested the building and acquisition of between 10,000 and 12,000 social housing units each year until 2012.

It is clear from the NESC report that the housing issue is not just about supply but about providing proper facilities in our built-up areas and protecting the community spirit that has been an integral part of our cities' lives. For too long, local authority estates have been built without proper consideration of facilities and services. We must learn the lessons of our past mistakes if we are to ensure young people, wanting to establish a family home, are given proper supports. The recent rioting in France is a wake-up call that the provision of housing must be got right.

The affordable homes partnership has been established by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, with effect from 1 August 2005 under the terms of the Affordable Homes Partnership Establishment Order 2005. The partnership's overall objectives is to co-ordinate and add impetus to the delivery of affordable housing in the greater Dublin area, for which it has been assigned specific functions for this purpose in Article 4(2) of the Order. In its work to date, the partnership has focussed particular attention on preparations for the call for proposals to issue to builders and developers to bring forward land for affordable housing. The partnership has also undertaken preparatory work on a number of land swap projects similar to the successful Harcourt Terrace pilot project, which concluded earlier this year. The procurement process for the first of these projects will commence next month.

The affordable homes partnership is also examining the integration of affordable housing schemes. The possible amalgamation of the various affordable housing schemes in operation was one of a number of issues highlighted for further consideration in the NESC report Housing in Ireland: Performance and Policy. The Government intends to address these issues shortly, taking into account the work under way by the housing forum in reviewing the effectiveness of existing social and affordable housing schemes in the context of the Sustaining Progress agreement.

I have been told that Dublin City Council is bringing forward its own amalgamated affordable housing scheme independent of the affordable homes partnership plans. I congratulate the council in this regard as I believe the amalgamated scheme will be published shortly. Until now, young couples have had to submit several separate applications, perhaps up to three, to different sections of one local authority to avail of the numerous schemes on offer. This duplication is unnecessary, costly to taxpayers and unfair to young couples in need of encouragement and assistance in taking the first step on to the property ladder.

I received some figures from Dublin City Council last month on the provision of affordable housing. There are three different schemes. Between now and 2007, 285 units will be provided across the city under the 1999 scheme; between now and 2006, 82 units will be provided under the Part V scheme; and between now and 2007, 444 units will be provided under the affordable housing initiative. This takes into account planning applications currently determined.

Progress has been slow in providing affordable housing in Dublin city. The Minister addressed this before and it was stated that builders put in a series of planning applications prior to the introduction of the new regime. Those houses are only now coming on stream and this is a reason for the slow progress. There are also difficulties in the negotiations between builders and local authorities, and this should be dealt with.

I wish to mention apartment development. The head of the school of real estate and construction economics at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Mr. Tom Dunne, last June stated that failure to maintain a large number of apartment blocks in recent years could lead to a serious deterioration in the quality of the urban fabric in cities and towns. He also stated that not enough money is being spent on the upkeep of new apartments. Latest figures show that apartments now account for 41% of planning permissions for housing throughout the State, and this rises to 74% in the Dublin area. This represents a major change in the housing stock and is likely to be a dominant trend in future. If such schemes are not made attractive, there could be a decline in the desire for apartment living. This is a serious issue.

I am pleased that the Minister intends to deal with the issue of management companies for apartment blocks. Currently, local authorities are making it a condition of planning permission that management companies be set up to deal with the maintenance of the proposed schemes. It appears that local authorities are abdicating from their responsibilities.

At a later stage I will deal with the energy efficiency directive, as well as the private residential tenancies board and its role in solving disputes arising from anti-social behaviour between landlords, tenants and third parties. I may also discuss developments in my constituency.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to share time with Deputy McManus.

Many aspects of the Government's housing policy could be criticised, and these are facets on which the Government has failed the people. The problem of housing supply, by no means the least of these dilemmas, has a profound impact on people's lives in such matters as family formation, quality of life and commuting times. I will refer specifically to three aspects of policy which are emerging problems that should receive urgent attention.

The first issue is the management of local authority housing estates. In these areas, as well as in many others, there is a growing problem of anti-social activity. People who do not understand the problem or have no experience of it may believe it is a fairly minor matter. It may begin as a minor issue but it develops into more serious activity. This may not technically be a criminal offence but can cause much grief and concern to residents, particularly elderly residents. It may quickly reach a point where it constitutes bullying and intimidation. Unfortunately it is a feature of modern life in many housing estates, particularly local authority housing estates. These places may have an atmosphere of intimidation and threat.

It is a common feature and the issue arises on a regular basis at public meetings in constituencies in urban areas. In recent years, local authorities have been more successful than the Garda in tackling the problem. Local authorities have used legislation to good effect, especially in the Dublin City Council area. The legislation in question is the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1997 and the Housing Act 1966. Both of the instruments have been used extensively to tackle anti-social activity. This type of activity has recently become so intense and serious that local authorities are relying more on the 1966 legislation, as this allows the authorities to send a senior official into a court to state that it is the view of the housing authority that a certain person is engaged in serious anti-social activity and should be evicted. The word of the senior housing official is accepted in this way.

The process must operate in this way because anti-social activity is at a level where it is not possible to get a witness to give evidence in court. I understand this and I do not encourage neighbours to provide evidence on anti-social activity in court. There is no doubt that there would be serious repercussions if they did. This is the manner in which the legal and judicial system works. The State authorities and gardaí are not in a position to provide the protection that residents require if they provided evidence in court against their neighbours. This is a reality of modern Irish life.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

That is correct.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

For this reason it is critical that housing officials can have the power to state, based on information which they are not required to disclose, that they believe a certain person is involved in serious anti-social activity and should be evicted. This system has worked well in recent years and there has not been a single case of abuse of the system, despite the wide-ranging powers given to local authority officials.

However, I wish to flag what is coming down the tracks. There are a number of legal challenges to this legislation waiting to be heard in the courts. The challenges are based on the UN Convention on Human Rights. If the legislation is struck down on the grounds of incompatibility with the UN Convention on Human Rights, we in the Dublin city area and many other local authority areas will be in serious difficulty. The tenants of local authority estates will pay the price for this in terms of further breakdowns in law and order, intimidation, bullying and threats in their areas as they go about their daily lives.

I hope that the Department is prepared and is aware that this is coming. Contingency plans must be made. If the legislation is struck down, we will have very serious problems on our hands. There is a need to put in place an alternative system that will allow local authorities to deal with the increasingly threatening and criminal behaviour engaged in by some local authority tenants. The number might be small but these people have a profound impact on vast numbers of law abiding local authority tenants who are being prevented from living in peace and quiet.

My second point addresses the development of private housing estates in recent years, whether they are conventional houses or apartments. We increasingly see housing estates and apartments built with no intention of their being taken in charge by local authorities. They are essentially built as private estates and are intended to always remain as such. This means that residents are being caught for all the charges involved in providing what we have always understood to be basic public services, such as sewerage, water supply, drainage, lighting and roads. I can understand what the local authorities are doing because they avoids great expense if they hand over them over to a developer and in turn to a management company.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

That is right, they are backing away from it.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

However, this has significant implications for low income purchasers of properties in particular who discover within months of moving into their new homes that they are caught for all these charges and will continue to be so for eternity. There are examples of residents being caught for charges of €1,700 per year but there are many others who must pay €1,000 or €1,200. That will go on indefinitely because local authorities, with the seeming blessing of the Department, are completely abrogating all responsibility for providing basic public services and are passing on the costs to residents.

Séamus Pattison (Carlow-Kilkenny, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Deputy has three minutes remaining.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The poverty trap that results from the way the rent allowance system operates needs urgent attention.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I wish to speak briefly about a small group of people who are losing out significantly despite all the changes in the housing area. There are cases in my constituency of families living in housing without sanitary facilities. Something is fundamentally wrong. We are living in the 21st century with major high-tech sewerage schemes becoming the norm, but some people do not have toilets in their houses.

Three generations of one family were living in a house without a toilet. A young girl who is now 12 has grown up never having had an indoor toilet or any toilet. She is being housed with her mother in council housing. As a result, the three generations have been split up and the grandmother is still living in a house with no toilet. It is extraordinary for any person to find himself or herself living in such conditions given that this is one of the richest countries in the world. I hope and expect that the Minister of State sets a target to ensure that no person lives in such primitive conditions before the Government goes out of office.

The provision of central heating and proper windows and doors is another issue. My constituency seems to have more than its fair share of housing estates that have been recently built, perhaps in the past 20 to 30 years.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

That is right.

Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The standard is poor, including nine inch cavity block walls, poor quality doors and windows, and no central heating. It is extremely uncomfortable and unhealthy to live in those conditions. Each year, a certain number of houses are provided with upgrades but it is a long way from meeting needs. I urge the Minister of State, who represents my constituency — although it is sometimes unclear where the benefits of this are in terms of housing — to deal with this issue.

I must put on record that 1,405 children are now homeless. We tend to think of housing as affecting women and men. These children are moving from one form of emergency accommodation to another and are losing out in health terms. They are unable to avail of vaccinations and conditions such as asthma are exacerbated by living in substandard accommodation. They are at a great disadvantage in terms of their educational chances. I hope and expect that the legislation introduced in respect of private rented accommodation will be enforced fully and that measures are put in place to ensure that every child has a desk at which he or she can do homework, for example. These are the simple measures that can make a difference to a person's life.

Jimmy Devins (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I welcome this opportunity to speak on the current housing situation. I have listened carefully to what has been said in the debate so far and must raise the question whether all of us in this House are living in the same country. Listening to some Opposition Members, one could be forgiven for believing that no houses have been built in Ireland in recent years. The reality is that over 77,000 housing units were completed last year.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

They were not local authority units.

Jimmy Devins (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It was the tenth year in a row in which a record number of houses was built.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Some were penthouses.

Jimmy Devins (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is also worth noting that over 500,000 new houses have been built during the past ten years. Currently, approximately 19 houses are being built per 1,000 people of population in Ireland, which is the highest rate in the EU. It would be interesting to compare this with the United Kingdom, our nearest neighbour, where the rate is only four houses per 1,000 people.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is much easier to get a house there.

Jimmy Devins (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

In light of these statistics, I have no doubt that my friends in the Opposition must recognise that enormous strides have been made in the provision of new houses during the past few years.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

A lot done, more to do.

Jimmy Devins (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

However, there is no doubt that it has been difficult for some people, particularly first-time buyers, to get on the property ladder due to increasing prices. This difficulty has been present for some time and I commend the Government, which, recognising the difficulty, put in place measures to improve access to home ownership for first-time buyers. These measures include stamp duty concessions and improvements in mortgage interest tax relief.

As Members are aware, the first-time buyer's grant was abolished some time ago. The rationale for doing so was that the grant was simply being absorbed into house prices by builders and was contributing to the substantial rate of increase. I had doubts at the time about whether the grant should have been abolished and I remember some definite cases made known to me where the abolition of the grant was going to cause hardship. However, I believe overall that the rate of increase has stabilised considerably.

It is evident that the cost of house purchases is still very high. I meet many first-time buyers who find it difficult to afford new houses. The All-Party Committee on the Constitution, of which I am a member, recently presented a report to Government on property and the Constitution. During the course of those hearings on this important subject, a considerable degree of time was spent debating house prices and how the value of land and property affected people. The report contains important and worthwhile recommendations and I ask the Minister of State to consider with his Government colleagues how best these recommendations might be implemented.

There is no doubt that first-time buyers still have difficulty accessing housing on the open market, despite the stamp duty changes introduced in budget 2005 which made second-hand homes more affordable for first-time buyers by significantly reducing, and in some cases eliminating, the level of stamp duty payable.

I wish to speak about the provision of housing for those in society who are less well off. The provision of social housing and houses through the affordable housing schemes are the main methods for the State to fulfil its obligation for the supply of houses. It is worth noting that 3,500 housing units will be delivered by the various affordable housing schemes in this current year.

I thank the Minister of State with responsibility for housing, Deputy Noel Ahern, who yesterday agreed to make available an extra €500,000 to a specific housing scheme in Strandhill, County Sligo, which is to be built by the Respond housing agency. This extra money has been allocated to bring the total investment in that scheme to €4.5 million which will allow the scheme to start construction next January with a completion date 18 months later.

There will be 52 housing units available in Strandhill, one of the fastest growing locations in the Sligo area. The striking and beneficial aspect of the scheme is the broad mix of housing types available. It will contain two, three and four bedroom detached, terraced and bungalow houses. In addition it will contain a ten-bed housing unit. Such a wide mix of house type should ensure a broad range of family occupants. The applications for this scheme are already being made.

The overall budget in 2005 for social housing was a record high of €1.3 billion. Over recent years not all local authorities were able to take up the allocations made to them for the provision of housing. There are different reasons for the take-up by local authorities but the decision by the Minister for Finance to provide a capital envelope has ensured that councils which utilise their housing allocation will be in receipt of increased money the following year. This has removed uncertainty about funding and has encouraged local authorities to actively provide houses for people on their housing lists.

It has been estimated that it can take up to four years to see the construction of a house through from beginning to end, starting with the identification of the land through to completion of the house. Some local authorities had very small land banks available to them at a time when there was a rapidly increasing need for the provision of housing. In that regard I commend my own local authorities in both County Sligo and County Leitrim who this year were allocated €9.8 million in the case of County Sligo and €5 million in County Leitrim for their housing programmes. It is worth comparing those figures with the allocation given to them in 2004 when Sligo County Council only received €6.2 million. Likewise, Sligo Borough Council had an allocation last year of €6.3 million and this year there has been an increase to €7.8 million.

Last year saw 95 completions in my area. I urge all three local authorities to redouble their efforts to provide as many houses as possible during the current year. The Minister has indicated that the money is available. The people who need the houses exist, as the waiting lists indicate. We should marry both together and continue to provide the badly needed social housing in both counties Sligo and Leitrim.

Another aspect of the housing situation is the refurbishment of older local authority housing through the excellent remedial works scheme. In my home town of Sligo work is under way in both St. Joseph's Terrace and Garavogue Villas, with completion dates for both schemes early next year. There has been disruption for some tenants during the reconstruction with particularly severe disruption in St. Joseph's Terrace. My understanding is that those difficulties have now been resolved and I hope this is the case. The people living there are the innocent victims in this saga.

Other estates in Sligo town which will be undergoing refurbishment in the near future include St. Brigid's Terrace and Jinks Avenue. The closing date for receipt of tenders was last Monday. A total of 37 houses in St. Edward's Terrace will be ready to go to tender following the acceptance by Sligo Borough Council of Part 8 documentation at its next meeting in December. A total of 106 houses in Treacy Avenue have had details submitted to the Department last September concerning their refurbishment. I ask the Minister to ensure that his officials expedite this proposal as soon as possible so that these houses can be refurbished to standards appropriate to this century. Sligo Borough Council received a total capital allocation from the Department of €2 million this year to carry out these remedial works. This is money well spent and is an example of productive use of housing allocations.

Money is also available through the disabled person's grant and the emergency repairs grant for carrying out necessary house repairs. Last year, Sligo County Council received €250,000 and will receive €500,000 this year. Last year, Sligo Borough Council received €116,000 and will receive €700,000 this year. As all Members are aware, there have been significant increases in the number of applications under these schemes which serve a very useful purpose and are of great benefit to the elderly and those whose houses need essential repairs. There is a massive increase in the money available this year under these schemes. Sligo County Council will receive an increase of 100% and Sligo Borough Council will receive an increase of more than 600%. This demonstrates the responsiveness of the Government to the undoubted demand.

Housing is a basic right. I commend the Minister on the increased allocation to Leitrim County Council, Sligo County Council and Sligo Borough Council. I ask him to use his good offices to develop methods to ensure that the financial burden on first-time buyers continues to be alleviated.

Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Tááthas orm an deis seo a fháil. Tá mé ag roinnt mo chuid ama le mo chomhghleacaithe, Deputy Healy and Deputy Crowe.

This country has something of a dysfunctional housing policy which is accelerating the breakdown of communities. The symptoms point to the fact that this country has failed to tackle the inordinate increase in land value that comes by way of rezoning land from agricultural use to housing development. When I was a member of the all-party committee on the Constitution which dealt with property, this was one of the issues which occupied a considerable amount of time and many experts were invited to speak to the committee. The Government is running away from the elephant in the middle of the room, which is the issue of affordable housing. It was proven many times that the Constitution allows, without the need for a referendum, for the Government to ensure any increase in the price of land can be returned to the community by way of a windfall tax. Compulsory purchase orders by local authorities could be used for the purpose of ensuring properly planned housing and communities.

Somebody is pulling the strings, and not in the interests of the public. The cost of housing is so high and unaffordable that it puts pressure on families. Both parents are forced to go out to work with its knock-on effects on child rearing and difficulties brought about by parents not staying at home during a child's younger years. All those knock-on effects give rise to considerable problems in communities the length and breadth of Ireland. They give rise to isolation in rural communities and to lack of parental control in urban areas. I appeal to the Government on the basis of this debate to come forward and finally face up to that elephant in the room, the need for——

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

There are a great many elephants in different rooms.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

We need bigger houses.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Every political problem has an elephant in the room.

Trevor Sargent (Dublin North, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is so obvious that I really do not want to trivialise the matter in any way, I merely want to bring the Government back to the all-party committee's recommendations to tackle the heart of affordability in housing. If that was done, we would be able to ensure that our communities were had affordable housing, in many cases a parent could stay at home at least for part of the life of the children and there would be greater community involvement and much more volunteer involvement in the community, which is a feature we are not seeing. As a basic start, I challenge the Government to allow housing to be a basic right in the Constitution. From there on, the onus would be on the Government to deliver on that.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I did not hear anyone on the Government benches speak about a crisis. There is a crisis in housing. Other speakers have stated we are living in a different world but people who come to my clinics speak in terms of a crisis. It is a crisis for the 48,413 families, many of which are living in poor or overcrowded conditions, that are on local authority housing lists because they cannot get housed.

Is it not a crisis if one is homeless in this city? On 11 September the homeless mobilised outside this building because three people died sleeping rough on the streets. That, to me, is a crisis.

The likes of the Simon Community, which is dealing with homeless people, states that more hostels are being built but there is no movement of people into local authority housing. The people concerned are stuck in hostel accommodation. They cannot move on with their lives. They cannot get on with getting jobs etc. because they do not have accommodation. That is a reality. That is a crisis for people.

There are people sleeping rough in my area of Tallaght, but the local authority is not aware of it. Today I spoke to three people who are sleeping rough. That is a crisis. If one speaks to the homeless unit in Tallaght, the staff will speak of the crisis that exists.

The Government's emphasis is on affordable housing and shared ownership. The previous speaker stated it was difficult for first-time buyers to purchase houses, and so it is, but is it not more difficult for people who are poor, people with a disability or people on low wages? It certainly is not easy for them. This is the same Government that says that the gap has not grown between the rich and the poor. Of course we are living in a different world if we say that.

Some €375 million is spent on rent supplements. Why is that not being invested in social housing? It makes no sense. We are lectured constantly about our lack of experience in economics, but the reality is the Government would rather give the money to landlords than invest in public housing. That needs to change.

Housing prices have continued to rise. The figures for the quarter to June 2005 show an increase of 11.8% nationwide and 7.4% in Dublin. Second-hand house prices increased by 10.1% nationwide and by 10.3% in Dublin. Wages are not increasing by that much for many people and that is the crisis people are facing.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

There are none so blind as those who refuse to see. I was here earlier to hear Deputy Fleming tell us that there was no housing crisis and everything was hunky-dory. As we speak, there are 50,000 families on local authority house waiting lists. That is 10,000 more than when the Government parties took office in 1997. If that is not a crisis, I do not know what is.

The reason there is a crisis is the Government has refused to put enough money into building local authority and voluntary houses. There are people waiting on local authority housing lists for two, three, four and five years. Unfortunately, there is no political will to ensure that these local authority applicants get houses any quicker.

We are not building anything like enough local authority houses. The NESC report suggested that we must build at least 10,000 local authority houses every year for the next eight years if we are to make any inroads into the problem.

No doubt part of the problem in this regard is the price of building land. When I was a young clerical officer in south Tipperary county council in the early 1970s, all the talk was of the Kenny report which would control the price of building land. Nothing has been done about this in the 30 years since because the people who own that land are supporters of Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats. The handful of billionaire developers who own that land in Dublin and the handful outside the country are supporters of the Government. The Government does not have the political will to challenge these people and to control the price of building land.

I will make one more point in the short time available to me. In every town, village and city across the country, and in local authority housing estates in particular, we need proper management of local authority estates, community and sporting facilities for young people and community gardaí to ensure that the anti-social behaviour evident in every corner of this country is tackled properly. There must be community gardaí available to liaise with young people as they grow up and there must be community facilities available for those young people to ensure they, their families and their neighbours have a future.

John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Since my involvement as a member of the local authority in my area, from 1979 up to the point where we had to cease such membership because of the end of the dual mandate, which was a daft notion, I have seen substantial change in the approach to local authority housing. I applaud the various initiatives such as the shared ownership scheme, the affordable housing scheme, the continuing social housing, the rent supplement scheme to a degree and the Part V process. Down the years I have seen all those initiatives make an impact in one way or another on the housing lists.

Regardless of what the Government will do, there will always be a group on the housing list who simply cannot afford to build or buy their own house, who must rely on the local authority. That is a growing number. As the population increases and there is a demand on young people to have their own place, people aspire to having their own local authority house if they are in that category.

It is a little unfortunate that we allowed the rent supplement scheme to grow from €5 million, as it was in the beginning, to the present level of €305 million without putting in place a method of filling that market by providing the accommodation that is needed in the context of local authority dwellings. If we had focused earlier on the emergence of the different categories on the local authority housing lists, we would have terminated the rent supplement scheme and fulfilled the demand for that scheme by way of a high number of a specific kind of local authority houses. By that I mean that if we audited the local authority housing lists, there are people living in three-bedroom houses who would prefer to be in two-bedroom or one-bedroom houses etc. We could have achieved the goal of reducing the number on the housing list and ceasing the rent supplement scheme.

I tend to agree with Deputy Crowe that at times it seems that it is solely landlords who are benefiting from that scheme. Rent for poor quality rented properties, at least down the country, has increased substantially because of the existence of that scheme, just as the price of private houses has increased substantially because of the shared ownership scheme. In my county, every time the maximum loan available under the scheme increases, the cost of the units increases. The maximum loan amounts to €165,000 in my county at present. The increases demonstrate greed on the part of those providing the accommodation in question. The Part V process, whereby land is made available to local authorities in private housing schemes, is working and will fulfil a need.

The length of waiting lists for local authority housing is growing and a number of single men and women have been on the lists for many years. The type of accommodation they require is not made available frequently enough to reduce the number on the waiting lists. I encourage the Minister of State to focus on that group. He should also consider those people of a certain generation who had to emigrate to the United Kingdom and beyond to find employment and who have now fallen on hard times. They want to come home and, while there is limited scope for them to do so, we should broaden this scope by providing the necessary local authority housing.

There is now a lack of land banks in local authority areas because they have been exhausted over the years. We need a scheme to allow the local authorities buy land from the private sector at a price that is reasonable relative to the acceptable cost per unit under the local authority housing scheme. This is the only way we can address the problem and provide apartment-style accommodation for those single men and women who need to be housed and taken out of private sector accommodation.

The bureaucracy pertaining to the disabled person's grant scheme and the housing aid for the elderly scheme is considerable and the people waiting for improvements to their homes under these schemes do not have time to endure it. A simplified scheme in the form of a home package, administered through the local government structure, is needed. I encourage a serious overhaul of both the disabled person's grant and housing aid for the elderly schemes so the bureaucracy could be removed and the grants made more realistic. The focus should be on the disabled or elderly person to ensure the relevant grant is delivered on time.

Given the emergence of the voluntary housing sector, which includes Respond in Kilkenny, and the emergence of the affordable housing scheme, which are sometimes coupled under or operating in conjunction with a local authority housing scheme, there is need for overall scheme management. This is not being delivered by the local authorities or the voluntary housing associations. They are not interested in dealing with anti-social behaviour, which is now emerging as a significant issue throughout the country, yet the directors of services and county managers are being paid well enough to deal with all the issues that arise in this regard. I have said this directly to the Department officials in Kilkenny. The directors of services and county managers should deal with the issues in a comprehensive way with the other agencies involved and the Garda. It is part of their remit to ensure that anti-social behaviour is dealt with in the context of supporting good, decent tenants in housing estates throughout the country.

If anti-social behaviour is left unaddressed, as is now the case, it will become more widespread. We need to engage with the Health Service Executive in this regard because it encourages some of the people on its waiting lists to enter private rented accommodation. Some of these people are known drug users, are known to be providing drugs for use by others. In Kilkenny city there is a serious heroin problem, yet it is unrecognised by the agencies and those involved in allocating housing, be they in the private sector, Respond or the local authority. We are allowing difficulties to fester in the estates in question. In saying that, I acknowledge the substantial money given to Respond, other voluntary agencies and local authorities to deal with housing.

Dealing with housing should go beyond giving a person a house. Those concerned have a responsibility to manage estates in the way they should be managed, that is, in the interest of the good tenants living therein. If they do not manage the estates properly, they are negligent in their duties and do not do justice to the system in which persons in need are granted houses and in which they should be given the type of support they require in their housing estates.

Reference was made in this debate and others to community gardaí. The presence of a community garda in any estate is pivotal to addressing the problems that exit therein. I ask the Minister, when briefing county managers, to insist that they allocate houses in consultation with all the relevant agencies so the right mix of people will exist in every housing estate and they will not dump most of the people who are perhaps undesirable into a single housing estate. This would not represent good management, yet it is happening in my county and in some neighbouring counties. We are receiving complaints as a result of that method of allocating houses.

On the affordable housing scheme, the clawback system is a good idea. However, it is working against tenants who find that the scheme suits them initially but who discover after some years that it actually militates against them when they want to sell their property after bettering their circumstances. We need to review the system to ensure we are affording the best possible advantage to the tenant to improve his or her circumstances and move on without being penalised to the extent that he or she must refuse or decide not to move because of the amount of money being clawed back. The housing initiatives are good but need to be tailored to the reality of the housing scene in local authority areas.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I wish to share my time with Deputy Quinn.

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am glad of the opportunity to speak on this very important issue, on which the Government has been silent for the past eight years. This is the first time in its term of office and that of its predecessor that any attempt has been made to come into the open and talk about housing.

When I hear the mantra from the Government side of the House that 75,000 houses have been built, I agree with it, but one should note that some of these houses are penthouses. Some are worth €2 million or €3 million and some of those who live in them frequent the tent at Ballybrit races regularly. The more houses that are built, the more space that must be made in the tent to accommodate the investors and landlords who have bought them. Blocks of houses throughout the country have been bought by investors who in turn are renting them to people who should be, but are not, housed by their local authorities. Almost €400 million is being paid in rent subsidies every year to people who frequent the tent in Ballybrit because the local authorities have not been able to build houses.

The Government's performance in respect of local authority housing is nothing short of a disgrace. The Minister of State knows I have become frustrated talking to him about this matter in recent years. The Government's record is appalling and all that has happened in recent times is that it has made some semblance of an attempt to address the issue in the hope of justifying its existence in recent years to the public before an upcoming general election.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Why does the Deputy not talk to his local authority?

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is absolutely disgraceful.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Deputy should not blame us.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Deputy Noel Ahern is Minister for State and he has the power to tell local authorities what they should be doing.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Deputy and his colleagues were members of local authorities and they did nothing.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Minister of State did nothing——

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

There were no demands coming in to us.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

——and his predecessor did nothing. He should be ashamed of himself. The Government members should all bow out collectively and say they are sorry because they failed miserably.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

What would Deputy Durkan do? If he could not succeed at Kildare County Council level, he will not succeed in government.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Let me deal with the point on the clawback made by my colleague from the Carlow-Kilkenny constituency. The clawback, which is now being applied after 20 years, is Dickensian. One would not have had such a system in the communist days. Where in God's name did the Government come up with that nonsense? If somebody buys an affordable house or if the purchase of his or her house is assisted in any way, through shared ownership or otherwise, there is a clawback. If the person moves to Cork or Donegal——

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

If they are decentralised.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

——within 20 years, he or she will have to begin again on the housing ladder. Why is this the case? It should be remembered that some of the land on which these houses are to be built was bought for nothing and has been in the hands of local authorities for 25 years. I do not know what purpose the clawback serves. It is just an excuse.

I would like to raise many other issues but I do not have sufficient time to do so. However, I will raise the issue of loans, about which the Minister is aware. The maximum shared ownership loan available in my constituency is €165,000. The Minister of State regularly tells me that it is possible to buy a house for that sum. Where within a radius of 30 miles of Dublin can one buy a house for €165,000? What age is the Government living in? It should come into the real world. This has been a reality for the past five or six years but the Government has done nothing.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

We have. Does the Deputy want us to increase the limits every month?

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The limit was €125,000 up to one year ago, which was even worse.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

We changed it.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Yet, the Government tries to defend itself by claiming everything in the garden is rosy and that it has done much work in providing 75,000 houses. These houses were provided for the wealthy in many cases. I have nothing against wealthy people. However, the Government should not try to con the people and the Opposition by pretending it has done something for those in need of housing because it has not. It should apologise to the people and will have an opportunity to do so in due course.

The disabled person's grant was referred to, and this is another aspect of the Government's appalling record. Some people with disabilities have been on the list for a disabled person's grant for up to five years. If the money runs out, their applications are postponed for a year. If it runs out the following year, they are told it cannot be done. In many cases, sadly, the people involved pass on while waiting for action from the Government. In addition, new house grants were removed in case they would be of any benefit to the unfortunate people who need them. It is an appalling record. The Government should be ashamed of itself.

We should have a lengthy debate on this issue to enable us to tell the Members on the other side of the House how they have failed miserably and to point the people in the right direction when the next opportunity comes for them to give the Government the answer it richly deserves.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am glad the Minister of State with responsibility for housing is present because I wish to ask him to do something that he can do, namely, make home owners of 6,000 people who want to be home owners by addressing the memorandum sent to him by Dublin City Council on 13 June in respect of the sale of flats scheme for the 12,000 flats the council owns. I suspect that the Members present either own a house, have a mortgage on a house or have aspirations to own a house.

One of the great achievements of successive Governments was to enable tenants of local authority houses to buy their houses. All studies show that this process transforms the maintenance and care of the house, the family within it and, by extension, the estate in which those people live. They can trade up if that is their aspiration or move sideways if they need to do so. However, one category of people cannot do this: the brothers, sisters, families and neighbours of those in purchased local authority houses who happen to live beside them in local authority flats. According to Brendan Kenny of Dublin City Council, given the opportunity, some 6,000 tenants in this position would probably apply to buy the flats in the morning.

The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government has been in possession of a memorandum since the end of June which was a consolidation and improvement on a previous memorandum of one year earlier. There has been endless discussion on the issue, with which the Minister of State is familiar, but I ask him to take action. He should ensure his Department not only acknowledges the memorandum but responds to it. If he has concerns or queries with regard to its applicability or its viability — I would be the first to accept the system in place is not perfect — he should articulate these and let the city council and its officials respond and address his concerns.

A major concern was the management capability of home owners in a block where 70% might be owner-occupiers and the remaining 30% would be local authority tenants. There was clear demarcation of responsibility and shared accountability. The decision by the city council to retain the management function for the entire physical entity of the block removes that legitimate fear. Down the road, when an expertise has been created and some experience has been gained in regard to owning property in such complexes, it will be possible to consider the next stage when the city council could perhaps transfer the maintenance function of local authority flat complexes to an independent body accountable to the owner-occupiers, the tenants and, by extension, the city council.

There has been a deafening silence from the Minister of State and his Department. I do not know what fear exists or why the Minister of State is worried about responding or saying we should do it. I know people who have been applying to buy their flats in Ringsend and Irishtown for the past 20 years, while their brothers, cousins and neighbours were able to buy their houses, move on and use the proceeds, with or without a clawback, to make the best of their lives. This opportunity is denied to local authority flat dwellers, largely in Dublin City Council areas although there are some in Cork and Limerick and perhaps a very few in Kilkenny city. Some 6,000 people who want to become home owners immediately and who have the capability to become such provided the terms are right and a certain degree of historical——

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

We cannot——

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

They have signed on for housing. The Minister of State cannot apply the ten-year rule and the 2% or 3% discount for people who applied——

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Should we give them away?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It was done in the past. It might be cheaper in some respects. It is certain that we cannot simply use the existing system which does not take into account the market value of the houses or the income of many of the people in them. By definition, people who earned higher incomes and wanted to own their own houses gave up on buying their flats many years ago and moved on. Therefore, a different cohort with a lower threshold of income now lives in those flats. However, they still want to buy and ownership is a better social bet in terms of fairness for the occupants and social stability in the flat complexes.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

What about maintenance?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Maintenance will be undertaken by the local authority on a fee basis.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The tenant will buy but the taxpayer will maintain the property.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Maintenance is already dealt with. These are the questions that the local authority is eager to answer if the Minister of State would only pose them, put them in an envelope and send them to the local authority.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Do the councillors in the Deputy's party agree with him?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Yes, they do.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

If they spoke with one voice, it might help.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I do not know of any Labour Party councillor who wants to tell a person that he or she cannot own his or her own house. If they do, they are offside in terms of policy. I own my house, as do most Members. I would not deny that right to anybody else. Anybody wearing my party label who says that I can own my house but others cannot is not on my side.

Donal Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I wish to share my time with Deputy Finneran.

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Donal Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Government has successfully promoted a range of measures to boost the overall supply of housing, modernise and develop the private rented sector and provide a range of well targeted schemes to meet the needs of those who cannot afford accommodation in the private sector. As a result, we have seen record levels of housing output in recent years while social housing output has reached levels not seen for more than a generation. The achievements witnessed in the housing construction industry in the past decade are nothing short of phenomenal. We have rates of house building not seen elsewhere in Europe. To put the scale of activity into perspective, three out of every ten homes in Ireland have been built within the past ten years, which is almost 500,000 units. The overall prospects for the housing market appear positive in the context of continuing economic strength, income growth and current favourable interest rates. The indications are that there will be a continued high level of housing output in 2005 and succeeding years.

In recent years we have put in place a range of targeted schemes to assist first-time buyers. These included the shared ownership scheme and the 99 affordable housing schemes developed under Part V of the Planning and Development Act. Almost 17,000 houses have already been purchased through the shared ownership scheme and more than 3,900 houses have been provided through the 99 affordable housing schemes. The projected 2,500 units under Part V of the Planning and Development Act amounts to over 10,000 units in total projected for delivery under this initiative. Increased housing output is providing greater opportunities for first-time purchasers. In addition, the stamp duty changes announced in the 2005 budget have helped open up the second-hand market to first-time buyers, providing savings of up to €12,000 in some cases. Interest relief is also designed to favour first-time buyers. The Government is ensuring that more and more young people are realising the wish to own their own houses.

On social housing, record levels of funding have been allocated to local authorities for the 2005 housing programme. This improved funding means that 5,500 new local authority houses will have commenced construction this year compared to an average of 4,700 in the past three years. Between local authority and voluntary housing programmes work is in progress on more than 10,000 social housing units at present. Some €17 million will be spent this year on disabled persons and essential repair grants schemes for the elderly. The new central heating programme provides funding for local authorities to install central heating in their homes. A provision of €30 million has been made for this programme in the current year.

Local authorities have been enabled to purchase additional housing stock and to give loans to individuals to purchase their own houses, which has been a great achievement.

Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this significant issue. I echo many of the concerns raised by other Members of the House, particularly about the need for the Government to put a greater focus on social housing. I have a number of comments which I hope the Minister of State will find constructive. Like all Members, I am interested in finding solutions to people's housing problems. I face this situation on a day-to-day basis so my comments will be in that vein.

No one will argue that the output of private housing has not increased. However, one must look at the housing system in its entirety. Why has Ireland such a high level of private housing output with such a low level of social rented housing? This country has one of the lowest percentages of social housing output in the EU. There are still tens of thousands of families on waiting lists looking for social housing. As a society we cannot simply forget their housing needs. For many poor and vulnerable households, access to good quality social housing is essential in that it underpins access to employment opportunities and health care while allowing people to rear their families in a stable environment.

Social housing is not just about bricks and mortar. It has evolved in recent years by providing a range of services for vulnerable households. One of the great creative challenges in the years ahead is to integrate housing with other policy areas such as health, which traditionally happened only on an ad hoc basis.

From my own background I am aware of how the voluntary housing sector has expanded. The sector is operating well below full capacity, however, and it is disappointing that the Minister of State has not shown greater urgency in clearing some of the blockages that voluntary housing organisations encounter. In Mayo, for instance, the two most common questions in this regard are, in effect, why the Government has not increased the capital funding limits for voluntary housing organisations since 2002 and why there is such a delay in getting schemes technically approved by the Government, as this did not happen in the past.

Having been involved in this sector since the early 1990s, I cannot recall such a long period during which there was no increase in the capital funding limits, which in some respects are more important than the overall increase in expenditure. I recall when the capital funding limits in the mid-1990s were not adjusted for over two years, the output of this sector fell dramatically to just over 400 new homes per year. That is why I urge the Minister of State to take action, as similar signs are starting to appear, with output in the voluntary housing sector falling in 2004. Early intervention to increase the limits in 2003 and 2004 would have prevented this.

I also ask the Minister of State to ensure that voluntary housing schemes that have been through the local authority planning process are not held up for months on end by the Department's technical officials. Perhaps the Minister of State will consider other ways to speed up the process, such as getting the National Building Agency involved. I am particularly disappointed that, having passed legislation in 2002 to allow voluntary organisations access to the Housing Finance Agency, nothing has happened to date.

I am sure the Minister of State is aware of the good work local housing associations undertake in meeting housing needs. However, this commitment and good faith by voluntary housing organisations must be met half way by Government. Otherwise lack of action on a number of these issues will demoralise organisations and show that the Government is only half-hearted in its commitment. It is not enough to keep repeating verbal commitments, concrete action is needed.

I acknowledge the Government's decision to support the safe home programme to assist returning elderly emigrants. This has been a major success to date, with more than 400 elderly people being housed throughout the country. I am somewhat concerned, however, that if the capital funding limits are not increased housing associations will not be able to provide many more units for the elderly. I also urge the Minister of State to take the lead in promoting sheltered housing. Sheltered housing keeps elderly people in their own communities and prevents them from moving prematurely to nursing homes. Too often there has been buck-passing as regards who is responsible for the various aspects of sheltered housing. I ask the Minister of State to consult his counterpart in the Department of Health and Children to ensure that sufficient dedicated revenue is provided for the ongoing running costs in sheltered housing.

Sheltered housing has been a great success and that is why co-operation with the Minister of State's counterpart in the Department of Health and Children is essential in making this area more mainstream to meet the needs of the elderly. I am concerned, from feedback in the west, that the elderly and people with disabilities will not appear in large numbers on local authority waiting lists for a variety of reasons. In future housing needs assessments should be made so that the care and supports needed by these groups are taken into consideration. This is essential for the planning of new projects. A major awareness campaign should be conducted by the Government in terms of local authority waiting lists and assessments, similar to what is being done by the affordable homes partnership as regards affordable housing. Many vulnerable groups and new immigrants are unclear as to how those on waiting lists are dealt with.

I urge the Minister of State to take on board the recommendations on social housing produced by the National Economic and Social Council in 2004 and to make this a much greater priority. Otherwise it will become the Cinderella of the housing system.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I intend to share my time with Deputy Deenihan.

It is good to have the opportunity to speak on this issue which is, perhaps, the greatest single problem being faced by young adults today in terms of owning their own house. A crisis has been developing since this Administration took office in 1997, which the Government has done its best to ignore, namely, that hundreds of thousands of young people can no longer afford to buy a house. In Wexford, as in other counties, many young people are putting their names on local authority housing lists either because they cannot afford to buy a house or cannot get planning permission.

The Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Roche, and the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Ahern, have painted a rosy picture of housing in Ireland over the past few years. However, it is far from rosy. They said we were going through a golden age, but nothing is further from the truth. A report today predicts that the average price of a house in Dublin has gone up to €500,000.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

There are houses worth €1 million thrown into that statistic.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Minister of State may well shrug and ask from where I am getting those figures. However, in any auctioneering firm in north or south Dublin, the average three or four-bedroom house costs €350,000 to €400,000 at present. A year from now it will cost €500,000.

If the Minister of State was under 30 years of age, would he be able to get a mortgage of €500,000? I do not believe so.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

One could get enough for a starter home, which is what is needed.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is very easy to say that. The Minister of State took away the first-time buyer's grant.

John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

No, he did not.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Who took it away?

John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

There is a tax concession for that.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Who took it away? Fianna Fáil took it away.

John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

For a very good reason.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I have listened to Fianna Fáil Deputies in this debate. They say one thing in the House but they speak from the other side of their mouths outside it. They say one thing in this House when no one in their locality is taking notice. Fianna Fáil has destroyed the housing market for the first-time buyer. Young people cannot get a loan of €450,000 to buy a house. They must come to Gorey and Enniscorthy and commute on a daily basis to Dublin, which causes major traffic problems in the area. That is how the Government has solved the problem. It has moved these people out of Dublin and let them commute, which destroys the family life they already have. That is not the answer to every crisis.

The number of Dublin people who have moved into Gorey, Enniscorthy and Wexford in recent years is colossal. They are lovely people to deal with. They want to stay in Dublin but cannot afford a house there. The Deputy may claim that these are people who are retiring, but that is not the case. People come into my office daily looking for planning permission. In fairness, Wexford County Council has changed some of the planning guidelines and by-laws to help the people who want to buy their own houses. This puts pressure on other amenities such as schools. Gorey is one of the fastest growing towns in the country.

In Enniscorthy, we are waiting on the completion of part of the main drainage scheme. We have been waiting for this for years. Nothing has happened in Enniscorthy since Fine Gael went out of Government in 1997. We will have to wait until Fine Gael gets back into Government to ensure that something else happens in Enniscorthy, because the town had a boom when Fine Gael and Labour were in Government. It will have another boom after the next general election because we will be on the Government side of the House.

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Hear, hear.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I hold the Government accountable, with the present and past Ministers for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, for the delay in completing the main drainage scheme on the east side of Enniscorthy. It has held up planning permission for many large housing schemes. I hold the Government to account on this. It is a scandal. The Government has neglected the town and will continue to do so.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Where is this scheme on the council list?

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

From where does the council get its funding? It gets funding from the Government.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Where is it on the council priority list?

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Government is not giving it the funding to complete the main drainage scheme.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Did the council make it number one on its list?

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am delighted to have the opportunity to say a few words on this motion. I welcome the fact that many new houses are being built in Ireland at present. However, as has been pointed out, supply has outstripped demand and there are now 30,000 vacant houses. The new housing surge is welcome and is driving much of the economy, especially in rural Ireland.

That said, I am concerned by the level of indebtedness of many young people. I recently read that household debt could reach 160% of disposable income within two years, up from 50% in 1995. It will reach 120% by the end of this year. Much of that is being fuelled by huge mortgages taken out to buy houses and even second houses. The market is being driven by investors in most cases. In many rural towns, investors rather than families are buying houses. I live in an estate where probably 50% of the houses are privately owned, while the rest belong to investors. That is the current trend. Deputy McGuinness mentioned the figure of €380 million in rent subsidy. Most of these houses are being subsidised by taxpayers.

In the UK, the number of people unable to pay their debts and applying for bankruptcy reached its highest level since records began 35 years ago. Many of these people took out mortgages for houses. I hope there will not be any blip in the European Central Bank interest rates. If there is to be a blip, there will be casualties. I hope that this does not happen because if it did, the economy would suffer a shock.

It is predicted that around 77,000 houses will be built per annum up to 2008. In Kerry, 3,121 people were on the social housing list on 7 October. That is one of the highest figures I know. I was on the local authority there for a number of years. It was never at that level. In Tralee there are people on the housing list that could not expect to be housed for up to ten years. They cannot get any other form of housing, so that is of great concern. The Government Deputies will support what the Minister is doing and the Opposition will try to say he is not doing enough. That is natural. The reality is that there is a problem that must be addressed.

The guidelines for rural housing are making no difference because the county development plan is taking precedence over them. If sewerage provision were made available to the 28 villages in Kerry that have applied for it, it would relieve the housing shortage considerably in the county. It would reduce the cost of land and housing.

John Cregan (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on the housing issue. I congratulate the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Noel Ahern, for ensuring that the Government has been committed and has delivered more local authority housing than any Government in the history of the State. There were a record number of 77,000 housing starts in 2004. This is a functional policy and not a dysfunctional one as described by Deputy Sargent.

Deputy Crowe and others referred to a crisis. I do not believe there is one. Deputy Crowe spoke about homeless people and those sleeping rough and he asked why. There are some people sleeping rough who deserve to be accommodated. There are many others who by choice have left local authority housing provided by this State. It was mentioned that rent supplement was paid at a cost of €305 million this year. That money is paid by the Department to support those people genuinely awaiting local authority housing. It was also mentioned that 50,000 applicants were on waiting lists. I do not believe for one minute that 50,000 is the correct figure. Many are on the list for different reasons best known to themselves.

There was a time when the greatest demand for local authority housing was for family housing. That is no longer the case, however. All county councils and corporations must move towards providing more single parent homes because that demand must be met.

The council in my area, in co-operation with the Minister of State at the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy Noel Ahern, his Department and officials, is doing an excellent job in meeting its targets. The council will continue to deliver its multi-annual building programme, which runs from 2004 to 2008. A total of 114 units commenced in 2005, while the number of completions will be 134. At present, 122 units are under construction and the total expenditure during the present year will come to €16.8 million.

We must achieve high standards, as we ask local authority tenants to pay significant, and increasing, rents on an annual basis. To provide value for money, local authority houses must have proper doors and windows and central heating, and must meet the required standards. During the current year, Limerick County Council will complete the fourth phase of its programme to replace windows and doors in all its local authority housing. The total number of houses completed by the end of 2005 will be 697, at a total cost of €2.27 million. During the current year, Limerick County Council continued the delivery of its planned maintenance programme to install central heating in 710 local authority houses. At the end of this year, work on 204 houses will be completed at a total cost of €1.5 million.

Earlier, Deputy Durkan performed a song and dance about the provision of disability grants in his county. Shame on that council. I ask Members to consider the County Limerick story instead. During the current year, a total of 232 applications have been received to date. Of these applications, 216 have been approved for assistance and the total expenditure comes to almost €1 million. As for essential repair grants, 51 applications have been received and 46 have been approved. In other words, targets are being met successfully with the co-operation of the Minister of State and the departmental officials. As for voluntary housing, the Taoiseach has laid great emphasis on community efforts and community building. In County Limerick, 35 voluntary local housing groups are active. They are to be commended on providing 483 units of housing in County Limerick. I commend the Minister of State on his efforts and I hope he continues his good work.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank the Acting Chair for the opportunity to speak to the House on the issue of housing. Housing, be it social, affordable or whatever is one of the most important issues facing our communities throughout the country. In the time allotted to me, I wish to discuss housing in rural Ireland. In particular, I wish to speak about the small villages throughout the country which, over the past six or seven years, have seen the construction of housing estates on a scale which we could not have envisaged even ten years ago.

In 1997, the pressing issues were that small villages were dying, school numbers were reducing, the number of teachers and classrooms was being reduced and so forth. Seven or eight years later, the boom and the amount of housing construction in the rural villages and small towns has meant that the issues have changed. The issue now is that a school may be unable to take its anticipated number of pupils in three or four years' time. While the facilities in some of the provincial towns such as football pitches, playgrounds and so forth already existed, in some of the smaller villages, the recreational infrastructure was not put in place while the houses were built.

This issue is a by-product of the prosperity which we have witnessed and it is good to see these communities become live, active and vibrant once again. As politicians, Members should examine county development plans, particularly at county council level, to ensure that zoning is carried out in respect of the provision of facilities that may be required, such as extra schools, playgrounds or other recreational facilities. Such facilities should be taken into account when the county development plan is drawn up.

From time to time in the national media, rural once-off planning is bandied about as being detrimental to the provision of sustainable services and so forth. The guidelines have been relaxed somewhat and we must ensure that through the local authorities, people from rural communities are allowed to attain planning permission and to live in those rural communities. They will be able to live and create a vibrant rural community because——

Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Deputy should conclude as I wish to call on the Minister of State to reply.

Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

It is vitally important that the planning guidelines are adhered to by all local authorities and that once-off houses are achievable and sustainable in rural Ireland.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I thank all the Members who spoke for their contributions. The Government has set extremely ambitious housing goals which it is delivering. The important point is that we are delivering record levels of housing in general as well as record levels of investment in social and affordable housing.

Today, I listened to some Members who came into the House to complain about the lack of housing in their areas, some of which I found hard to take. Until two or three years ago, many Members served on local authorities and they still have colleagues serving on them. Such Members should tell their colleagues at local level to get things done and to press on at local authority level. I find this attitude particularly rich coming from Members like Deputies Gilmore and Cuffe, who are both from Dún Laoghaire. The local authority in their area has been extremely poor in meeting the needs of the area and I understand it met less than 50% of the commitments to which it agreed in its four year multi-annual programme.

The same applied when listening to Deputies McCormack and Durkan. There have been no cutbacks in County Galway or anywhere else as far as disabled persons grants are concerned. Any changes are due to the locally-performed mix between disabled persons grants and essential repair grants. A total of €70 million is available from the Department and there is plenty of money for any local authority that provides——

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Tell that to the people of Wexford.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

——one third of the funds. If there is a problem in County Galway, it is because the local councillors decided to change the mix or decided not to provide one third of the funding.

Paul Kehoe (Wexford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Minister of State should tell that to the people of Wexford.

Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

There are no problems there either.

Moreover, much has been done in respect of housing quality. Almost one third of the total stock has been constructed in the past ten years and houses are now built to a better standard. With regard to local authority housing, last year we started a scheme to install central heating in approximately 45,000 houses that currently do not have it. That is a major upgrade which will greatly improve the quality of life for those tenants.

While we are concerned about affordability and price rises, trotting out figures based on average prices does not mean much, because houses worth €1 million and €2 million are included in that calculation. It is more relevant to discuss the price of starter homes. Good value is still to be found and the percentage of one's take-home pay that one pays on one's mortgage is more relevant than the price. In recent months, I have attended the official opening of affordable houses in the Dublin area, which cost less than €200,000. They exist and I commend the local authorities which are doing their bit.

Many Members have blamed developers and landowners. I will not defend developers and some of them have been extremely greedy. Of late, however, financial institutions have caused problems. At present, they can be seen offering 100% mortgages and interest-only mortgages. They have so much money that they compete for market share and appear to be lending money to people who may not realise what they are getting into. I have serious concerns in that regard and I wish the financial institutions were somewhat more measured in their actions.

Some Members have come into this House to tell me the number of people on the local authority list in their county. However, we have asked the local authorities for five-year action plans and to inform us as to their local needs. We have made agreements with them and have assured them that funding is certain. Hence, I cannot understand how Members can complain. If a local authority states that 200 units a year are required, but Members come into the House and claim that thousands are needed, what are local authority members doing? Why are we hearing two different stories? We have made agreements and have given commitments to local authorities that whatever they state to be their needs will be met. This is the basis on which I operate.

Many people are now housed with the aid of rent allowance. What is wrong with that? Now that the Government has announced the introduction of the rental accommodation scheme, a number of speakers have suddenly expressed opposition to housing social tenants in private areas. Must all social tenants be housed in traditional local authority dwellings in traditional working class areas? Why can we not expand our horizons? What is wrong with the scheme?

The Government is delivering on social housing, as demonstrated by its investment of €2 billion in the housing programme this year. After a day of listening to hot air, I have heard no useful proposals. The Government is doing good work and I hope the Estimates tomorrow or the budget in December will provide additional funding for housing. Those benefiting from social or affordable homes recognise they are being treated well.