Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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We all agree the country is facing a housing and homelessness crisis. The number of people sleeping on the streets is growing, the housing lists in all the local authorities are lengthening and the bills for emergency accommodation are spiralling. Our solution is that local authorities need to be adequately funded to become, once again, the primary supplier of social housing. This housing must meet the needs of those languishing on the lists. In my town of Youghal, more than 160 families are on the housing list. In Cobh there are more than 500, and people can wait up to six years in Midleton for a housing offer. I have had cases in which people have waited for up to ten years before any offer of housing was made. Three generations of one family live in overcrowded conditions and this in itself brings added problems of stress and strain to a difficult situation.

The Government's recent announcement of €15 million for housing is little more than a drop in the ocean. It was more an insult than a solution. I take this opportunity to raise the particular issue of family break-up. When one partner must leave the family home in line with a court order he or she is homeless. Unfortunately, local authorities refuse to allow these people onto their housing lists. After a break-up, a partner has nowhere to live but still will not be accepted onto a housing list as there is a financial stake in the family home. Is it possible to reach an arrangement whereby once the family home is sold a financial contribution can be made to the local authority, similar to the financial contribution scheme for senior citizen accommodation? Will the Minister of State address this issue directly?

Sinn Féin proposes to tackle the housing crisis head-on. We have identified €1 billion of unused money in Ireland's strategic investment fund. Current cost projections from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government state that the average cost of building a new social housing unit is €151,477 and the cost of renovating an unused social housing unit is approximately €15,756. Using the money we have identified, the Government could provide an additional 7,450 homes on top of current targets. If initiated now we could be on track to deliver a minimum of 12,450 new social housing units before next summer. Using €985 million from the strategic investment fund, 6,500 homes could be built, each costing approximately €151,477.

Sinn Féin is dedicated to offering realistic and achievable solutions to the housing crisis. We are not interested in plucking numbers out of our imagination or accepting the status quowhereby more than 100,000 people are not adequately housed and more and more are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Táim an-bhuíoch deis a bheith agam labhairt ar an mholadh seo agus tacaíocht a thabhairt dó. I thank the Technical Group for raising the issue of housing through its Private Members' time this week. It is an issue close to my heart and that of Sinn Féin. I have raised the issue of housing in the Dáil almost every week since my election. Sinn Féin believes in the right to housing. It underpins our approach on the issue. People have a right to a secure and comfortable home. It is a right recognised by a UN convention and was recently recognised by the Constitutional Convention, which recommended its inclusion in Bunreacht na hÉireann. A date needs to be set for this referendum.

We have on our hands a housing crisis. Today the media recognises that this crisis exists. They fill column inches with human interest stories but are unwilling to cover any real proposed solutions. Sinn Féin has proposed solutions and initiatives all the while and we will continue to do so. We want to see people housed. I take no pleasure in the suffering and hardship people tell me about when they call into my office or drop in to meet me. I want to see the Government or any Government deal with the issue and I would welcome any initiative which seeks to deal with this problem.

I welcome recent moves by the Minister of State to renovate vacant houses and build new social housing units, but we need more and we need it sooner rather than later. Rents are out of control, particularly in Dublin, putting more and more people at risk of homelessness. Sinn Féin supports fair rent controls. We have included this in an amendment to the motion tabled by the Technical Group. I appreciate the Minister of State has commissioned a report into rent control options, but the people struggling to scrape together the money to keep their homes cannot wait. We have been waiting a very long time for a deposit retention scheme, despite positive soundings from the Minister of State. These must be dealt with as a matter of urgency, with rent control top of the agenda. Protection of tenants against eviction must also be strengthened in line with international law. We have seen no progress on this. Rent control, deposit schemes and eviction protections would make things better, but we still have a major problem because we simply do not have enough social housing. This is why rents are so high, why homelessness has increased and why emergency accommodation is bursting at the seams. It is why mothers sleep in their cars with their children and thousands of euro are spent putting families in hotels every week. At present in Dublin 174 families are in hotels, which costs more than €14,000 a day.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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Shocking.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Now there is no hotel accommodation and people are being turned away from homelessness services. Given all of this, how will it be possible to end long-term homelessness by 2016? Voluntary housing bodies can play a role in the solution, but they do not have the capacity to be the solution by themselves. The State has a responsibility to provide housing through local authorities, and it is by prioritising public provision that we will begin to turn the tide on this crisis.

Sinn Féin has submitted an amendment to the motion and I ask that it be supported by those who want to deal with the problems in housing system. It gives flesh to the points of the original motion, adds clarity on what is needed and provides a way for real investment in social housing to happen. Will the Minister of State listen to these proposals and meet Sinn Féin to discuss them further? The National Pensions Reserve Fund has been renamed the strategic investment fund and its website claims it has a focus on productive investment in the Irish economy to support economic activity and employment. Sinn Féin has identified €1 billion in this investment fund which could be used for social housing investment. Based on statistics from the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, it would be possible to build approximately 6,502 homes using €985 million of this fund and to renovate the remaining 948 long-term vacant homes with a further €15 million investment. This would total approximately 7,500 newly available homes under local authority control, which could be commenced in the next 12 months.

This would be in addition to the existing plans to deliver approximately 5,000 homes by 2015. Were rent supplement recipients, of whom there are 78,000, prioritised for housing, approximately €32 million could be saved on that bill and local authority revenue also would increase. In addition, it would create thousands of jobs for people who formerly had been employed in the construction industry. The provision of 7,500 new rental homes would curtail significantly the demand on the private market. This would drive down rents, which have soared in recent years, thereby putting many into emergency accommodation or into being at risk of homelessness. Such a decrease in rents would reduce further the cost of rent assistance payments. This would be a bold move but it would have an immediate positive effect on the lives of many thousands of people. It would give hope to the many desperate people who fear for the roof over their family's heads due to the effects of six years of austerity levelled at the most vulnerable. Were the Government to seek to dismiss my figures, it would merely be dismissing the figures of its own Departments. It is the stuff of fairy tales to think this problem will go away. These are realistic proposals and I ask the Minister of State to consider them as seriously as this situation demands.

The housing budget has been cut year on year and last year it was cut by €60 million. A total of €1 billion has been cut from the housing budget between 2008 and the present. I accept this did not all take place on the Minister of State's watch but also happened during the tenure of the previous Government. More than 90,000 people are on the housing waiting list and more than 5,000 people are in accommodation for the homeless. In addition, approximately 30 additional families or individuals regularly report as being homeless. People are being evicted from their homes. Banks and lending institutions are becoming more aggressive, and with the mortgage crisis, there is more to follow. If this is not a crisis, what is? Action is needed.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Eric Byrne, who is sharing time with Deputies Dara Murphy and Lyons. The Deputies have ten minutes each.

Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle. No Member can come into this Chamber and not recognise there is a terrible human tragedy in society, whereby people find it difficult to put a roof over their heads. It is almost sickening to remember the cause of this problem, that is, the obscene relationship between Fianna Fáil and the construction industry. This obscene relationship gave carte blancheto those developers to build wherever and whenever they wished, notwithstanding the inevitability of the bubble that was to burst. It placed this country in the hands of the troika and left Members' constituents to suffer in respect of one of the basics of human life, which is to have a secure roof over one's head.

That said, I applaud the excellent commitment shown regarding some projects within my constituency. For example, I refer to the regeneration of St. Teresa's Gardens and with regard to Dolphin House, which now is the largest social housing scheme in the country, a position formerly occupied by Ballymun. The elaborate and exciting plans to redevelop Dolphin House currently are on track and are being participated in by the residents there. In addition, the St. Michael's Estate scheme, which was the bane of everyone's life, has been completely flattened and new, magnificent alternative units have been provided. These are all positive developments. I compliment the Minister of State on one particular aspect. She will understand, as will the Ceann Comhairle and most Members, that there is nothing as sad or as tragic as the sight of constituents approaching one's advice centre and bringing with them a list of all the vacant houses they see, seek and need, only to see the steel shutters remaining on them for another three, six or nine months or even a year. It is horrendously difficult for those poor unfortunates who seek accommodation to see those units vacant. However, I applaud the allocation of €15 million that will bring back into circulation 950 of these boarded-up units, which have been an obscenity on the face of Dublin city in particular. This is the most welcome decision of the Government in the recent past.

I wish to raise an issue to which previous speakers also have referred. Incidentally, the Ceann Comhairle might tell me when my five minutes has expired, because I do not wish to eat into my colleagues' time.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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The Deputy has ten minutes, of which seven minutes remain.

Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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I had thought I had five minutes.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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This is a 30 minute slot.

Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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Very well. I can elaborate better. This problem in respect of the rent subsidy to people in the private rented sector exists and must be addressed. In my 40 years in politics, I have never seen the logic of hard-earned taxpayers' money being diverted to the extent it is into the pockets of the private rented sector and the landlords therein. One can be honest and acknowledge they are providing a roof over people's heads, but I refer to the recent demands by these unfortunates who are trapped in such private rented units. They think and have the expectation that when the landlord increases his or her rent according to the market forces that are at play, somehow or other we, that is, the taxpayers, must meet every €100 increase out of the taxpayers' pocket. A multi-agency approach of some kind is required in respect of how to handle landlords' expectations to be free to demand what they wish, as well as the expectation of those living in the private rented sector, some of whom may have been so doing for quite a number of years, to be rent-subvented. A balance must be reached in this incredible dichotomy between the rights of private landlords to whatever the market can bear and those who are renting and in receipt of a rent supplement. I do not appreciate fully the demand by certain tenants in the private rented sector to the effect that it is the Government's obligation to give increases to the landlords, pound for pound, €100 per €100, simply because the markets state they can get more for their properties in a given year. This is something about which the Government must be extremely careful as there are rights on both sides. These include the rights of those who are paying very heavy taxes and one must ask whether they are getting value for money if it is being diverted into the rental housing subsidy field.

Earlier, I mentioned and welcomed some of the schemes that are being redeveloped. However, one must also consider the changes that have occurred in society when it comes to housing and homelessness. As the Minister of State noted, there are victims who have rented privately, who can no longer afford to so do and who are very vulnerable. Tragically however, there are a large number of people who are victims of the culture of drugs and alcohol and who create mayhem in their own lives and, if they are married or have children, in the lives of their partners and children. Anyone who runs advice centres or who works at the coalface in society is aware that an ever-increasing number of such unfortunate victims of drugs and alcohol are ending up in chaotic lifestyles and ultimately are ending up on the streets. Consequently, when I refer to a multi-agency approach, while housing can do so much and the Department of Social Protection can do so much by providing rent subvention, there also may be a role for the Department of Health in how it is handling this mushrooming of drug addiction, in respect of both alcohol and other drug abuse, that is resulting in the homelessness of such persons.

At present, society is very tough. Thankfully, the moneys available to the Government are slowly filtering through and will create 5,000 new social housing units. I applaud the decision to bring back into proper use, for once and for all, the aforementioned 950 boarded-up houses, thereby benefiting the lives of those to whom they ultimately will be allocated. I hope to see the Minister of State at some of the opening ceremonies of the various schemes she is funding. I hope to see her one day at Dolphin House, when we can guarantee the regeneration programme's continuity of funding. I believe the Minister of State would be given a warm reception. In addition, an official opening ceremony should be conducted in respect of St. Michael's Estate, as well as other projects that are being opened.

I will conclude, as I do not wish to run over time. I wish to give over my remaining time to my colleague, Deputy Dara Murphy, who has been waiting patiently with copious notes.

Dara Murphy (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Government amendment to the motion. The Minister of State is a very caring Minister. She has inherited her Department at a time of difficult economic circumstances. It must be frustrating for her to have to deal with the problems while she must work under economic restrictions. Her departmental brief requires significant resources. I compliment her for being able to maintain funding more or less at €600 million from 2013 levels. It is hoped that some significant building schemes will be progressed throughout the country.

Like the current debate about water charges we cannot forget that for far too long social housing did not get adequate investment and it will be necessary to play significant catch-up in building terms for a number of years. We should give significant time and thought to a housing policy. It is noteworthy that one in five households are in the private rented sector. We should encourage and continue to embrace ownership of our own homes which is part of the Irish psyche. This has not been possible for some people but for most it has always been an ambition. However, in other European countries this is not the case. In northern and central European countries people live in rented accommodation all their lives.

We did not want to have it but Ireland now has NAMA which is one of the largest property-owning entities in the world. Some very large companies in Europe manage rented accommodation. It was always intended that NAMA would cease to exist as soon as possible but some element of a State-owned property company may continue. NAMA officials point out that much of its property is not suitable for social housing or any form of State-subsidised rental accommodation. I ask if it is possible for a legacy company to remain in State ownership which would take over some of those NAMA assets.

All Members of the Oireachtas have constituents who present with housing problems. I represent a large urban working-class area on the north side of Cork city. A very high number of representations to Oireachtas Members and to my office in particular relate to housing issues. In my view the humanity with which public representatives are able to deal with people has been restricted. I accept the bona fides and the independence of the local authority housing list system and that its processes and procedures must be robust. However, I refer to the extremely hard cases and the limited degree to which we can influence the local authority housing list system. When the Minister of State meets local authority directors of housing services I ask her to promote the notion that politicians from all parties should on occasion be permitted to interact more robustly with local authority housing directorates in order to advocate for people whom they believe are in particular distress. I do not know if the situation is similar in other parts of the country but the one sector where the response is poorest - I will be careful with my choice of words - is with respect to all matters to do with housing.

This is an opportune time to re-examine aggressively the area of tenant purchase. We need to continue to encourage, incentivise and facilitate as many people as possible. Unemployment levels are falling quite rapidly and more people are going back to work. There is a need to supply more social housing either by the building of new units or else by releasing existing units by means of tenant purchase. I agree with Deputy Eric Byrne that we all meet people in our offices who can point out houses which have been boarded up for a lengthy period which is very frustrating for those who are waiting on a housing list. On about three occasions people have come to us to say that they would be willing to fund the cost of renovation of a property. However, the local authority response has been that such an initiative would give a person on the list an unfair advantage because he or she may have the means to renovate a house to the disadvantage or someone else on the list. I accept that argument on one level but when it is the case that the local authority does not have the funding for the renovation work and a third party has the money, it seems to me to be a bit of a nonsense. In some cases these properties have remained boarded up for two years and unavailable to a new tenant. The other barrier is to do with insurance and the quality of the proposed work. When local authorities provide grants the work has to be inspected before any money is paid out. I do not understand why this system cannot be in place to supervise any renovation by a third party.

I am a member of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service, as is Deputy Donnelly. The committee held a meeting attended by the Governor of the Central Bank, Professor Honohan. The issue of very lengthy mortgages was discussed. With some justification the regulators are completely opposed to very lengthy mortgages.

I am not fully convinced by that argument in respect of the provision of social housing. In central Europe, some families have inter-generational mortgages. Deputies often deal with cases involving people who have grown up in social housing which, although it happens to be owned by the State, is nevertheless the family home, and who subsequently face extreme difficulty, hardship and distress when the person in whose name the house is registered, as it were, passes away. All of us accept that providing for 50 year mortgages could result in an increase in house prices. The issue is different, however, when those involved are families who wish to purchase and own social housing. Such an approach would unburden local authorities and allow them to accommodate new applicants.

To be fair to the Minister of State, she is more than aware of the issues I raise. A focus on being creative to allow more churn in social housing stock would help achieve the objective all of us seek, namely, to reduce the housing waiting list by the greatest possible number. The housing list is a major problem for everyone.

John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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I am pleased to have an opportunity to speak on this issue as it is one with which Deputies on all sides and some more than others have experience. Deputy Ellis, the Minister of State and I all represent areas of regeneration and are familiar with the problems that arise when social housing policies go wrong. As with other Deputies, we also face the many other housing anomalies and problems that our constituents experience every day.

While listening to previous speakers, I jotted down the phrase, "One can only play the cards one is dealt". While people can bang drums and point fingers, the Minister of State is doing everything possible with the resources available to her. Some may say that is plámas on my part but it is the reality. I do not believe in giving out because it does not solve any problems. To achieve results, one must sit around a table and focus on solutions. In fairness to some of the previous speakers, notably my constituency colleague, Deputy Ellis, they engaged in the type of conversation the House needs to have on Private Members' business. Rather than complain, Deputies should propose solutions and hope some of their suggestions are adopted. Some of Deputy Ellis's interesting proposals could work and I hope they will be included in housing policies at some point.

The Minister of State has managed to ensure the majority of her budget is allocated directly to housing related issues, for example, housing adaptation grants, of which there are not enough, direct building projects and some of the other areas to which previous speakers referred. She has essentially been asked to solve the many woes caused by the policies of previous Governments. No one should expect her to achieve this in one day. Irrespective of whether we like it, the issue is one of supply and how we address it. Even if the International Monetary Fund were to decide tomorrow to write off all of our debts and allowed us to spend what we liked, the number of people who are homeless or on transfer lists, medical priority lists or other housing lists would not decline the following day. That is the unfortunate and sad reality. It is also an indictment of the previous approach of allowing the problem to develop over a protracted period. I remember----

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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The Government has been in power for three years.

John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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I ask Deputy Healy not to interrupt me and I will not interrupt any of the Deputies opposite when they contribute.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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We will have one speaker at a time.

John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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The Deputy has caused me to lose my train of thought, which is unfortunate given that we are trying to work together on this issue.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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What about the last three years?

John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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If the Deputy would not mind, I would appreciate if he would shut up. I ask the Acting Chairman to excuse my tone.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Deputies are advised that they must not harangue the speaker.

John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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I could stand up and make faces when Deputy Healy speaks but some of the Deputies present would not be happy. I thought the Deputy was a nice man but he has set me right.

To return to the serious issue under discussion, a mainstream housing programme is being introduced. While it is not sufficient, it is as much as can be delivered at this time. To echo the comments of Deputies Eric Byrne and Dara Murphy, I am delighted that €15 million in hard-fought funding has been allocated towards addressing the issue of voids, which are the bane of my life. People visit my clinic and Deputy Ellis's clinic asking why they cannot move into a boarded up house in Ballymun or Barnamore in Finglas. They do not understand the reason they cannot be allocated these houses. I am delighted, therefore, that half of the voids in the housing stock are to be brought back into use as it will mean the boards will come down and the houses will be put to use for good families.

The reason half of the voids will remain boarded up is that they do not meet planning guidelines as they are too small to accommodate people. I have no doubt that when more money becomes available, a creative approach will be taken on this issue. I am pleased that some of the €15 million in funding will be used to address 135 voids in the Dublin area. As a result, many of the boarded up homes one regularly sees in Dublin North West, including in Finglas and Ballymun, will soon accommodate families.

While I accept it is not the Minister of State's fault, I wonder why houses become void so quickly. It costs a great deal of money to return these homes to the social housing stock. The local authorities must explain the position. The two housing managers in my locality do the best they can with the resources available to them. However, decisions are taken centrally in Dublin City Council, which uses a tendering process to address the issue of voids. The city-wide tendering scheme does not work as well as the previous scheme under which local managers had a greater say on how money was spent on dealing with voids. Under the previous scheme, some local authority housing managers were more creative than others and put money to good use to return voids to the housing stock and provide homes for people in the locality. The new tendering process being used by Dublin City Council does not do justice to the people who attend our clinics every week. While I accept this problem is one for local authorities rather than the Minister of State, it is one that must be solved.

On homelessness, I heard Cathal Morgan state on "Today with Sean O'Rourke" this morning that 181 new homeless families are being accommodated in hotels. These are families who have found themselves homeless because their rent was increased at the end of a lease and they could not afford it. The families in question would not have been in such circumstances previously. While the problem is multifaceted, the reality is that 181 families in the Dublin area are living in hotel accommodation, including the Travelodge Hotel in Ballymun and the Sunnybank Hotel in Glasnevin. Given that staying for only one or two days in a hotel room drives me demented, I can only imagine what it must be like to make a hotel one's home for more than a couple of days. Families living in hotel accommodation must be given priority. The Minister of State's new housing policy statement refers to housing people first and providing the support services afterwards. This is better approach than providing the services first.

The rent supplement scheme is the reason many people become homeless. As such, a collective Cabinet approach to homelessness is required. I hope other Ministers are listening to the debate. Unfortunately, some people cannot find accommodation under the rent supplement scheme. Again, this is not the Minister of State's fault as rent supplement is the responsibility of another Department. This issue needs to be addressed aggressively to find a solution which ensures that no one is forced to leave his or her home because the rent exceeds the rent cap. Exceptional needs payments must be made to any person who tries unsuccessfully to find alternative accommodation under the current rent cap. The pool of landlords providing accommodation under the rent cap threshold is diminishing and has virtually disappeared.

I find myself as a public representative completely helpless when homeless people come to me these days. I feel like saying, “There is nothing I can do,” because at this stage there is nothing I can do. The best I have done for anyone who has come to me in the past six months, a time in which it has become really tough, is stand up here for the past ten minutes to talk about some of the issues the people in question are facing. I hope this will become part of the holistic approach the Minister is taking.

Ballymun is exempt from rent supplement under the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2007 which provided for urban regeneration areas to be exempt to create a better social mix. I have people attending my clinics, individuals who grew up in Ballymun, have lived there and whose kids go to school in the area, who have been forced to move out because they cannot find rented property at the right price. They cannot use rent supplement either while there are some vacant residential units in some of the regeneration buildings which are privately owned. The social mix-regeneration concept is great and I wished it worked. An estate should never be built that is all social housing as that is not the right way to support people in achieving a prospect of a future positive life. However, the social mix concept in the Ballymun regeneration project just does not work. We have empty residential units in Ballymun. I do not know how many there are, but perhaps it might be checked by the local authority in conjunction with the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. To use another phrase, “If we mind the pennies, the pounds will mind themselves”. If there is a small number of housing units in Ballymun that are free but local people in receipt of rent allowance cannot rent them because of the regeneration exemption, we should look at removing the ban on accepting rent allowance in regeneration areas. We need every solution at this stage to give every person affected, particularly the 183 people living in hotel rooms, a roof over their heads, a place that they could at least call home until a more sustainable solution is found.

The policy in the 1960s was to put everyone from the same social background in the one big area, as happened in Ballymun where I grew up. Now, we spend millions of euro dealing with the issues created by the thinking of successive Governments not to have a social mix in housing developments. If we want long term to create better lives for people, we must ensure housing policy has the right social mix in housing developments supported by Government funding such that the rising tide raises all boats. It must be the case that no matter one’s background, where one lives one sees good role models to which one will aspire.

The Minister of State, Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, has done her best with the cards she has been dealt. Unfortunately, it is not a great set. All other Ministers with a role in this area must do the best they can to dig as deep into their departmental budgetary pockets as they can to ensure the Minister of State can continue to come up with creative ideas to address the housing issues we face.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I call Deputy Joan Collins who is sharing time with Deputies Thomas Pringle, Finian McGrath, Seamus Healy and Stephen S. Donnelly.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I am not blaming anyone in particular, but we all know the housing problem has arisen from the dependence of successive Governments on the private rented sector and developers to provide housing. That policy was wrong before, is wrong now and will be wrong in the future. It has surprised many that the price of land is going up again. Irish housebuilder New Generation Homes, the first into the market to buy land on the outskirts of Dublin, has pulled out of it because it believes the price of land has gone too high. We will be facing a situation in the future where people will not be able to afford to buy homes. As banks will not lend to those who do not have a permanent income, many more will not be able to get a mortgage because they do not have permanent jobs anymore.

We have had three years of a Labour Party-Fine Gael Government and watched this crisis develop. I remember in 2010 putting forward a motion at a Dublin City Council meeting calling for NAMA properties to be brought under local authority control because of the looming housing crisis. The crisis has not happened in the last month. It has been developing for the past six years, even during the so-called “Celtic tiger” years. It is not good enough for the Minister of State to claim we have a serious problem. We are facing a disaster. Do she not realise this? When people come-----

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I am a public representative; I know all about it.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Will you address the issue on that basis, rather than through these piecemeal proposals? While they are good, such as turning around 920 local authority houses from being voids, there are 90,000 people on the housing waiting lists. That measure will not even address the issue.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy should address her remarks through the Chair.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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What people want at this stage is hope. They want to see the Government planning to build 10,000 homes annually for the next few years. People will even put up with short-term solutions on the basis that there will be a long-term solution down the line. However, the Government’s proposals do not even provide for this. A War Cabinet should be established to decide where we can build social housing and how to borrow money through a Government bond to fund it.

I have a case of a young lad from Crumlin who has been in a homeless hostel for the past three years. He fell between the cracks in the homeless services because they were inundated and could not deal with his case. We eventually got him back into the system and I hope he will have a home in the future. As his George Foreman grill has been taken off him, however, he is forced to eat microwave dinners all the time. His general health and mental well-being have diminished in the meantime.

Last week at my clinic I saw three families within an hour and a half who were facing eviction because their landlords were increasing the rent. Rent increases in Dublin 8 and Dublin 12 were of the order of 18% last year. There is a disgusting apartheid operated by some landlords in this city when they declare when advertising their properties “no rent allowance accepted” or, using more sleight of hand, “work references only”. One measure that could be taken is preventing landlords from including these stipulations in their advertisements. If they do, they should be taken off the register of landlords immediately and not allowed to continue to rent property. This could be done overnight to stop this rack-renting by landlords.

I do not agree with increasing rent caps in the Department of Social Protection. There should be rent caps across the board and they should be introduced with immediate effect, linked with market increases and inflation. The fact remains that in the past people were able to make a deal with their landlord to pay an extra €100 a month on top of their rent allowance. However, the top-up payments have increased to €300 and €400 which are beyond many. Last night the Minister stated average rents in Dublin were 15.5% lower than they were at the peak in the fourth quarter of 2007. People’s wages, however, are way down on what they were in 2007. Most have seen their wages cut by one third through pension levies, the universal social charge, property tax and other taxes. What we are seeing is a double whammy - rising rents and decreasing wages - for those who cannot possibly maintain paying rent through rent allowance.

This issue has to be addressed through a war footing exercise. The Government must give people hope that one year down the line they will see social housing being built, with families having access to local schools, etc.

That there are 80,000 in receipt of rent allowance and 90,000 on housing waiting lists is a damning indictment of past and current policy adopted by the Government. I call on the Minister of State to address this critical issue.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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The motion was tabled by the Technical Group because of the housing and homelessness crisis. It is disappointing that there is no recognition in the Government's amendment that countrywide there are families in crisis. These families have been let down by the Government and there is no point in it trying to deny this. It has made choices in the past three years, including to support the troika and cut the deficit, while starving the country of investment, when clearly everybody, including many eminent economists, was pointing out that investment would stimulate the economy and help to ease the burden. The Government in making these choices allowed the problem to mushroom out of control. This issue needs to be addressed urgently.

The Government could have opted in budget 2014 not to reduce the deficit and, with growth in the economy, it would still have met the deficit reduction targets. It could have initiated an investment programme in the last budget, but it decided not to do so. It chose instead to continue with deficit reduction, thereby taking money from the economy and vital services such as housing provision and capital developments. It did not have to do this, but it chose to do so. It is its choices that have led to the crisis.

Reference was made to the need for imaginative solutions to the housing crisis. These imaginative solutions, as per the 2014 programme, include 350 units to be provided through the mortgage-to-rent scheme, a scheme that in the past two years has provided only 38. We will be here next year lamenting the fact that 340 or 345 of these units remain to be provided, at which time the Government will probably hold up its hand and say there was nothing it could have done about it. Another imaginative solution is the construction of 200 new houses under the social housing investment programme. That it is proposed to construct only 200 new houses is a disgrace. The Government continually refers to housing construction, in terms of overall GDP, as being too low and the need for it to rise to 12%, yet it is doing nothing to stimulate that construction or provide homes for families.

During the past three years only three houses have been constructed in County Donegal. They only reason they were constructed was they had been already tendered for and contractors identified when the Government cut the house construction programme. It was only through hard lobbying that the families now residing in these houses were sorted out. There has been much talk about there being 16,000 families on the housing lists in Dublin. There is no doubt but that there is a crisis in urban areas, but there is also a crisis countrywide. Proportionately, when one compares the populations of counties Donegal and Dublin, the 2,600 families on the housing waiting list in Donegal equates to 24,000 to 25,000 families on the housing lists in Dublin. The Government is not doing enough to address the crisis. When one takes into account the number of people in County Donegal in receipt of rent allowance, there are 4,000 individuals-families in urgent need of housing.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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They are included in the initial figure given by the Deputy.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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They are not.

Another imaginative solution involves rent allowance. Last year the Department of Social Protection provided a briefing for members in the AV room on the great changes it was introducing to the rent allowance scheme. I acknowledge that this issue does not fall within the remit of the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, but perhaps she might bring my comments to the attention of the Minister for Social Protection. Last year I checked the Daft.iewebsite for accommodation to rent in County Donegal for a single person whose rent allowance was €300 per month. There were only four properties available to the person concerned. When I checked again this morning, there were still only four properties available in County Donegal to persons within that rent limit. When I raised the issue with officials of the Department of Social Protection, the response was that if such persons were to make top-up payments, they would be committing fraud. Like every other Member of the House, I have advised individuals seeking accommodation and in receipt of rent allowance that to secure a house, they will need to make a top-up payment. The response of the Department, however, is that in so doing they are defrauding the system. The problem is not that individuals are defrauding the system but rather that the system introduced by the previous Government and continued by the current Government has resulted in the creation of a black market for landlords who are only recording on the rent allowance form rent equal to the limit for the area, with tenants having to top up these payments with cash to the landlords to ensure they have somewhere to live. This system needs to be changed urgently. I ask that the Minister of State bring this message to the attention of the Minister for Social Protection.

The only solution to the problem is to roll out a massive construction programme. The motion calls for the construction of 10,000 houses per annum in order to meet some of the demand. That is the only solution to the problem. The Government needs to come to terms with this and come up with more imaginative solutions. Looking to the private sector to address the issue is not the answer. It will not provide solutions for the 90,000 dependent on the Government to help them in providing a home for their families, which is a basic human right. The Government needs to recognise this and step up to the mark straightaway.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this important debate on the housing crisis. All Members of the House will be aware of the recent increase in the number of families in need of housing. The motion, tabled by the Technical Group, in highlighting the crisis also proposes sensible solutions to resolve the issue. It is important that this be acknowledged. There has been much talk about the issue and what we need are solutions. Yesterday we dealt with the Children First Bill 2014 which aims to put children first. There are 90,000 families on housing waiting lists. I would like to see the children of these families being put first in this debate. These children need a stable and warm home.

There is a housing and homelessness emergency that must be addressed as a matter of urgency. It is accepted by all parties that current housing resources and supports are at breaking point. The current arrangements are forcing many people on rent assistance which has been set below market rent level to engage in making illegal top-up payments to landlords in order to sustain their housing arrangements. There is also a shortage of private rented accommodation across the country and where accommodation is available, it is increasingly unaffordable. There is a lack of alternative housing options available.

There are 132,000 families in local authority housing. We need to build on this figure and Dublin City Council needs our support in addressing the issue. Another issue which is often neglected is that of low paid workers. I was visited yesterday at one of my clinics by a young couple whose joint income is in the region of €59,000 per annum and who wanted to purchase a two bedroom apartment or a small house but had been refused a mortgage by Bank of Ireland and the EBS. I am assisting them in this matter. It must be remembered that we are dealing not only with those on benefits but also people on low incomes.

As stated by Deputy John Lyons, coming into the House to complain is not enough. We need to work together to come up with solutions. As I stated, the motion not only highlights the sad realities but also puts forward sensible solutions to the problem. I support the calls for a stimulus measure to promote private housing construction aimed at meeting identified housing needs. I welcome the return by the Government to construction of general need social housing. It should set a target of increasing social housing to 20% of total housing stock as outlined in Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000.

To achieve this would increase social housing output to 10,000 units per annum. I support this and it needs to be done. Mechanisms must be explored to improve access to finance for approved housing bodies, for example, the review and revision of the capital advance leasing facility to make it more financially viable; removal of barriers to access financing through the Housing Finance Agency; and the protection of capital assistance scheme for special needs groups, including people who are homeless. The 2011 housing policy statement recognised that the not-for-profit housing sector has a significant role to play in the social housing supply. This is another sensible proposal.

We must seriously examine NAMA, which must deliver on the number of properties it releases for social housing. The Government estimates that 4,500 social housing units announced in the 2014 budget will come from NAMA transfers. Since the establishment of NAMA the transfer of units to social housing has been extremely slow. As of 31 March, 518 NAMA properties had been transferred to social housing, with 166 units contracted for which completion work is ongoing.

Within any social housing developments, for general and special needs, there must be ring-fencing for people moving out of homelessness. Although I support the Government's tenure neutral policy on housing, it should be backed up by a number of actions to improve the rights of tenants and increase access to good quality private renter accommodation. We must encourage more institutional investors, such as pension funds, to invest in the private rented sector by means of real estate investment trusts provided for in the 2013 budget. Rent relief must be reintroduced as a means of countering non-declaration of rental income by landlords. We need rent controls linked to the consumer price index and rental index to protect tenants, especially those at risk of homelessness, from rapid price increases. If more use of the private rented sector is to be made to move people out of homelessness, measures must be put in place to ensure greater security of tenure in order that the tenant can see his or her rental property as a home and not be in fear that the landlord will sell on the property. These are some of my proposals. They have support across the Technical Group. I urge the Minister to examine them and get on with the job.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I call Deputy Seamus Healy.

John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Without interruption.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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Stand down now, Deputy Lyons.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group)
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Any honest, reasonable person would agree there is a crisis in the housing and homeless situation caused by the abandonment of the local authority house building programme by this and the previous Governments and the privatisation of the housing programme. As a result, 90,000 families are on local authority waiting lists throughout the country. In my constituency, Tipperary South, 1,225 families are on the list and have been waiting years for accommodation from local authorities. In Clonmel, 334 families are waiting, in Tipperary town 187, Cashel 164, Carrick-on-Suir 90, and it goes on.

The situation is even worse than the figures suggest because many families qualify for neither the local authority housing list nor a mortgage because the local authorities, under instruction from the Department, are implementing outrageous and ridiculous income guidelines. For example, a family of two adults and two children cannot get on a local authority housing list if they have income in excess of €27,500 gross per annum. Thousands of people are in that situation, condemned to rent privately forever more. Those income limits must be increased. The previous Government slashed them by 50% and I ask the Minister to restore them.

The situation arises on an ongoing basis in my clinic. I recently met a couple who, unfortunately and sadly, lost their home through no fault of their own, through unemployment. One of them was working at a minimum wage job and, having lost their home, they have found they qualify for neither rent supplement nor a local authority housing list. This is a direct result of the outrageous income limits implemented by the local authorities and the Department.

The house building programme has been privatised and abandoned. The figures speak for themselves. In 2010, there was €367 million for local authority house building alone. By 2013, the Government had slashed that to approximately €65 million. In 2012, the Government cut the allocations of voluntary housing agencies by more than 20%, from €70 million to €55 million. Meanwhile, private landlords are being supported to the tune of €500 million through the rent supplement scheme and by a similar amount through the rental accommodation scheme. We are effectively paying mortgages for private landlords.

While there are solutions, the only real solution is a major house building programme. We have been asked where the money will come from. Ireland is not broke or bust but significantly wealthy. The Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Costello, has told us here that Ireland is the seventh wealthiest country in the world. Assets are higher than they were at the peak of the boom. There are significantly wealthy people in this country who have assets of €239 billion. The top 10,000 earners in this country have an average annual income of €595,000 but are not paying their fair share and have not been asked by this or the previous Government to do so. We have no wealth tax, asset tax or higher rate of income tax for very high earners. If those taxes were increased, there would be adequate funds available to commence a major house building programme which would have a knock-on effect on employment and downstream employment, particularly in the retail sector. While that is a reasonable solution, unfortunately, neither this nor the previous Government has or had the political will required to implement it.

Will the Minister of State specifically consider the question of the disabled person's grant and housing aid for older people, which the Government cut from €55 million to €35 million? In my county, the grant was reduced from €3 million to €1 million. These are people who require such facilities as stair lifts, level access showers and additions on medical grounds. I ask the Minister of State to restore the budget for that.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
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I am delighted to be one of those proposing the motion. I very much welcome the opportunity to talk on the growing housing and homelessness crisis. The motion recognises that we are dealing with a crisis and provides real solutions. I was disappointed when I read the Government's amendment, because it was not really an amendment. It did not try to amend a very sensible proposal but began by deleting the Technical Group's entire proposal, which was very disappointing.

In particular, I note the Government's amendment did not recognise the scale of the problem. If one read the Government's motion, one might see much activity but there would be no indication that we are dealing with an escalating crisis and this is not business as usual. There is a call for a report from the Private Residential Tenancies Board to consider difficulties faced by tenants but I suggest that in year four of this Government, the calling for reports to consider these matters is really disappointing. Most worryingly, the Government amendment indicates that the most appropriate way to deal with the crisis is "to continue the various programmes and fiscal incentives currently in place". The Government is arguing that its response to an escalating and real crisis all over the country is to continue with the existing programmes, which is bonkers. It is absolute madness and very disappointing to see.

I will broaden the conversation, and there has been much worthwhile conversation around various people at risk. I will discuss four groups, including those with distressed mortgages, the negative equity generation, renters and those trying to rent, and the homeless or those at risk of homelessness. Many other Deputies and I spend much time on the issue of distressed mortgages, and it is clear at this point that the Government has failed to deal with that crisis. I have dealt with the matter every day for the past three years and I can categorically say the Government has failed in dealing with it. Comparing the number of distressed mortgages in Ireland with any other country, including Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain - the countries which have dealt with the same issues we have - it is several times higher than what is evident in those countries. Ireland is completely on its own in its failure to deal with this.

Representatives of the banks came before the finance committee recently to tell us how they were getting on and the experience was quite shocking. There was extraordinary inconsistency between how banks treated people; if a person is in a bad situation with one bank, he or she could get out of it okay but if he or she is with another bank, there is no hope. The Governor of the Central Bank yesterday indicated he was okay with that approach, as it allowed banks the freedom they need, which is very disappointing. Of 57,000 offers made to date of so-called sustainable restructuring, at least 52,000 do not include any financial concession, and the majority of so-called sustainable restructures are either a letter threatening to repossess the house or an offer to restructure the mortgage in such a way that a family would end up paying the bank more over the life of the mortgage.

The banks have told us they expect thousands of evictions, with my calculation amounting to 7,500 just from the four banks whose representatives we met. We know the banks are vetoing the insolvency process in a way that is explicitly contrary to the Government's intention. On top of this is the disgraceful handling by this Government of those thousands of men, women and children in houses mortgaged to Irish Nationwide. The manner in which that was dealt with is a dark stain on this Government.

This Government indicated it would help the negative equity generation. Instead, it is charging tax on properties in negative equity, so essentially they are being taxed on their debts. That is extraordinary, despite us being told this is a proxy for wealth tax. Accidental landlords first had to deal with double taxation and in the last budget, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, had the idea of charging PRSI on rental income, which is absolutely destroying these people.

What about renters and those people trying to rent? They have two problems. In many parts of the country, including Wicklow, there is nowhere to rent, and if a person is lucky enough to find somewhere to rent, he or she has no rights. I live in a rented house with two young kids and another one on the way, please God. Every year I could get a phone call from a landlord telling me I must leave, along with my kids, and leave my neighbours and friends. It is not the landlord's problem that I would have to find somewhere else or have a longer commute to school. It is not okay for renters to be treated like that, and how in the name of God is anybody meant to raise their family or children when they can get a phone call asking them to leave an estate, their neighbours and friends. That can happen every year.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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It is disgraceful.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Independent)
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It is outrageous that this is allowed to happen.

What about those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness? Ms Annette Kennedy is chairman of the Bray Homeless Forum and she told me that in Bray, emergency accommodation was created for 16 people at the end of last year, which is welcome. She indicated that these places are already full and there is a waiting list, and if we cannot move on these people, we will be entering a minefield as more people are being pushed from rental accommodation, rent allowance does not cover rents and renters have no rights. She does not know why the Government cannot negotiate with landlords. In May 2013, the Bray Homelessness Forum found there were 58 homeless people in Bray, with 16 of those children. The forum held an event last month highlighting the drop in social housing and private accommodation at a time when demand for housing is increasing, rent supplement is falling short of real rents and landlords are not willing to accept tenants on rent supplement. It is outrageous.

I have many potential solutions. I have already written to the Minister about some of these, such as the mortgage-to-rent idea. Some of these many solutions cost money, which needs to be found, but many do not have a cost. All of the solutions should be implemented by the end of this year by the Government.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Having listened to the last speaker, I note he has completely ignored the fact we have been experiencing a very serious economic crisis, and the best way to deal with anybody in difficulty is through creating employment. This Government has created employment for over 60,000 people in the past year.

Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent)
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Is the Minister of State being serious?

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Mathews was voted in on this side of the House and he will have to face the electorate in that regard.

Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Independent)
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I was voted in on my own merit.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Members must speak one at a time, through the Chair.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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There are 60,000 people working today who were not working this day last year. There is a prediction for significant growth in the economy and job creation; we have reduced our unemployment rate from a high of 15%, as Deputy Donnelly knows, to 11.7%. It is still high but it is below the European average. Our economy is growing and the Government has put its efforts into economic recovery so it can deal with increasing investment in social supports like local authority housing and assisting people in debt who have difficulty emerging from that problem.

We could not do this within the economic spiral we inherited as a Government, as the country faced an appalling vista. We have put that behind us and the troika has left our shores, so there will be increasing investment and income from working people. In the last quarter there was more than €200 million collected in income tax; that means more people are working and there is less expenditure on social welfare, with more money to be put into social fairness and equality matters, including housing.

I accept that passion and commitment has been shown by everybody on this side of the House with regard to housing and homelessness. This issue is not the prerogative of any one party or person, and we are all deeply concerned by the matter. I acknowledge the deep commitment on both sides of the House to improving the lot of people who need proper housing and accommodation, fairer rents and a decent place in which to live. That is what this Government and those opposite are about.

Notwithstanding all the difficult circumstances we have seen, the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, is doing a tremendous job. The housing policy statement is categoric in its focus on housing supports, which must seek to meet the most acute needs of those unable to provide for their accommodation. This is particularly so because of the constraints on our resources and now there are clear signs that we are turning the corner, we will enhance what we can achieve in the areas of housing and homelessness and will also help to reduce the numbers of those at risk.

We are all out on the doorsteps these days and an issue raised by everybody is the question of vacant social housing units, with some being boarded up and remaining unoccupied for a year or more. It is a shameful position evident in housing estates around the country. This gives rise to vandalism and there is also a reduction in amenities in residential areas where significant numbers of units are closed. Repairs bills can be unacceptable.

There are approximately 90,000 on the waiting list for social housing. That is why on 17 April the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, announced a €15 million funding stream to bring vacant and boarded-up local authority units back into use. This investment will create, or bring back into play, 952 homes for families around the country. With the significant pressure on social housing supply, the Government is determined that no suitable homes will be left vacant when there are families in need of housing.

This funding will not only provide additional social housing, but will enhance whole communities by transforming vacant housing units that have blighted some communities for years. The investment is also good news for people in construction as work will be attractive to small and medium-sized contractors. Refurbishing vacant units is a quick and cost-effective way of boosting the number of houses for families on the waiting list. While this programme will kick-start the process, the Minister of State intends to meet with the directors of housing for all local authorities soon in order to discuss practical means by which the phenomenon of houses lying vacant while there is a clear shortage of accommodation can be resolved once and for all.

There are many other points I could make but the Minister of State has taken note of the individual contributions. We can all go forward together, as our economy recovers, to meet people's just and social housing needs and to put increasing resources into social supports for housing as our economy improves.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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What the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, has just said demonstrates how utterly inadequate, to say the least, is the Government's approach to what is by any standards a crisis of unprecedented proportions as far as the number of individuals and families on the housing lists is concerned. The Minister of State should listen to and examine what he said. His first canard was the creation of employment, as he put it, when his Government has been destroying employment for tens of thousands in the public sector. Small businesses and others are adding some extra employment. We welcome the fact that a significant sector of workers has got jobs so that they have not had to join the hundreds of thousands of their peers in Australia and America and everywhere else. On their wages, however, they cannot afford the rents being charged in Dublin and other urban areas, much less go into a bank and get a loan for a home or save for a deposit. What planet are the Ministers of State living on that they come in here and provide as some kind of solution to the housing crisis the creation of precarious jobs, when a large number of people who are desperately waiting on the housing list, being made homeless, being turfed out by rack-renting landlords are in the type of precarious employment they talk about? They provide this as a solution.

The second point made by the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd, concerns the repair of boarded-up local authority houses. I welcome that. They should be turned around very quickly and made fit for human habitation. There is no question about that but the scale of what is available there compared with 90,000 units that are desperately needed is Lilliputian. It is totally inadequate. Only a few weeks ago I recited to the Minister of State, Deputy O’Sullivan, what happened in the 1970s with regard to the provision of social housing by local authorities. Notwithstanding the current crisis, society then was at a much lower level of technique and know-how. Against the minuscule few hundred houses this Government plans to put together now and over the next few years, in 1971, some 4,789 homes were built; in 1972 that went up to 5,900; in 1973 it was 6, 072; in 1974, it was 6,746; and in 1975, it was 8,794, and so on of that order. The faces of the Ministers of State should be reddening in embarrassment when they hear these figures recited. The Labour Party, which was in government for part of that time, and I recall it very well, made a huge virtue of its house building programme and used it to excuse many other betrayals of Labour policy in that 1973-77 coalition Government. That brings into sharp relief the utter failure of this Government, which is completely out of touch with the situation.

Some of us who have been around and campaigning for many decades in the interests of ordinary working class people, unemployed people, low income workers, etc., know the suffering is unprecedented. We know the type of stress and pressure on families in, for example, Dublin West, as around the country, who are being faced with rent increases of between €200 and €400 a month. Families are broken up and some members are put into hotels and shifted from one hotel to another. There was a shameful situation around St. Patrick’s Day, when human beings whom we were assisting were being shifted out of hotels because those hotels were able to put up the prices for St. Patrick’s weekend.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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That is outrageous. It is scandalous.

Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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These unfortunate people were shunted somewhere else. This is the Ireland of 2014 over which the Government presides but it does not get the scale of the suffering. Other Deputies have related many examples.

It is important to ask what happened and find the root of the crisis. What happened between the 1970s and now was neoliberalism, the privatisation of the provision of homes, the property bubble, when developers and bankers in pursuit of massive profits were allowed to speculate outrageously, and when the three key parties of the establishment, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour, over a 20 year period not only allowed, but fomented, the privatisation, and continued with it so that the human need for a home was put out to the profiteers, as increasingly health services are now. The result is the huge scale of suffering that we have at present. To rely on the private sector now to resolve the problem with a new house building programme is futile.

We need a massive programme of public home building, social and affordable. Major construction companies should be taken into public ownership and diverted in that direction and local authorities must directly build homes, as they did in the past. The rental crisis is of huge proportions. We need immediate rent controls. We also need to stop the rack-renting landlords and the crisis they are creating; the immediate outlawing of the veto on human beings on rent supplement looking for a home, which is rampant; and taxation on the super wealthy and major corporations, which would very quickly provide the finance for the type of major reconstruction necessary.

In terms of raw materials, there are tens of thousands of willing construction workers languishing on the dole who are desperate to build homes. There is no shortage of them but with this policy the suffering will continue. That is why we need a huge uprising against this by all working people, the homeless and those who are suffering.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Last night, the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, described the housing and homelessness crisis as a matter of concern. I put it to her that it is not a matter of concern; it is an emergency. The first step in resolving this crisis is for the Minister of State to recognise it as a crisis that is now becoming an emergency. I acknowledge that she inherited the problem from the previous Fianna Fáil Government, which turned housing and property into a casino for banks and property developers. That caused the crisis but it is not the end of the story because in the three years this Government has been in power, it has not addressed the problem and the measures it has taken have only made the crisis worse. She has to admit that fact.

The Government made the problem worse by cutting the rent allowance. Two years ago, the Minister for Social Protection told us this decision would result in reductions in rents. She was wrong and should admit that it did not work. Rents have increased. The problem was also exacerbated by the Government's abandonment, in June 2011, of direct provision for social housing. The document to which the Minister of State referred announced that the Government was going to rely primarily on leasing arrangements with the private sector. That has failed. Landlords are pulling out of RAS and other leasing arrangements because they can make more money on the open market. The Irish mortgage brokers association, which represents landlords, has stated they will not solve the problem. The people to whom the Government is looking to solve the problem are stating baldly that they will not do so. Furthermore, by giving a veto to the banks on mortgage distress and allowing for the repossession of homes, we will be facing another catastrophe when the individuals concerned will be put on the housing list and made homeless because of the lack of social housing.

The first step on the road to wisdom is to accept this is an emergency rather than a matter of concern. Some of the human faces of that emergency are in the Gallery. Bethany, who is 19 years old, is on a Tús scheme and is homeless. The Department of Social Protection proposes to cut her from the Tús scheme because she cannot give an address. Lindsay-----

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The rules of the House, as the Deputy knows, are that he should not name persons in the Public Gallery or outside the House.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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That is not true.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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It is not true.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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It is true.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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It has been done before.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Another family-----

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will address the Chair.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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It is done regularly.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Do not cut into my time.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I am sorry, Deputy, you will address the Chair and you will not name persons outside the House or in the Public Gallery. Otherwise you are out of order.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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We should get a ruling on that.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Another family-----

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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You are cutting into the Deputy's time.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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If the Deputy wants to engage in that subject, I will engage as well.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Another family-----

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Deputy, for the last time-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I am not naming them now. Just leave me alone.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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For the last time, Deputy-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Stop playing political games.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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We are perfectly entitled to do it.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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For the last time, show respect for the House. Remember that you are in a House of Parliament, not in some corner.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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Show respect for the Independents.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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You are cutting into my time.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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It is disgraceful what you are doing.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Please address the Chair. You, Deputy, will leave the House because you are out of order.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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Show respect for the people who came from all around the country to be here for this debate.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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You are out of order.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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Show respect for the Deputies who were elected to this House.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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You are out of order. I remind you.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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There are children up in the Gallery listening to this. Show respect and allow the Deputy to continue.

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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Show respect for the Independents.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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You will remain in order or leave the House.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Leave it, Deputy Halligan.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Remain in order or leave the House. Does the Deputy want to continue?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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A family comprising a mother, a father and their eight children are sharing a two bedroom house with a sister and grandmother. There is nothing from the local authority. Another family in the Gallery, with seven children, is getting a variation on the rent cap on a month-to-month basis but is being told this will not last. They will face homelessness if the rent cap policy is applied. Another family in the Gallery have been on the list for 15 years. Another family in the Gallery is dealing with receivers moving in on the landlord. Representatives of the receivers are sitting outside the family's house to intimidate them and the family do not know where they will go if they are put out. Another family, with five children, has been staying in a hotel in west Dublin for the past six months even though the children go to school in Shankill. Another family, with two children, has been on the list for 14 years and is renting chronically damp accommodation under the RAS. The children are sick as a result of the damp. For another family, three children have been sharing a bed with their mother for the last 18 months because the rent cap prevents them getting private accommodation.

I will not continue to rehearse the list because it is too long. That is the human reality, and it is replicated all over the country. The Minister of State has to face the fact that it is an emergency. She says the Government does not have the money to deal with the crisis. I beg to differ, however. The Government pays €500 million in rent subsidy to private landlords every year. That money would build 5,000 council houses and save money for the State.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Is the Deputy suggesting that we take rent supplement away from the people in the Gallery?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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It would save money for the State because it would get extra rental revenue. Fr. Peter McVerry has pointed out that the €100 million being spent to change the traffic lights at Newlands Cross would build 1,000 houses at current market prices. This year, we are going to spend €9 billion to pay off the debts of bankers. Can the Government not tell Europe that we are going to hold back €1 billion in order to build 10,000 council houses? If Europe insists on being repaid, we could argue that we will make savings by spending that amount every year for five years in terms of the €500 million in rent allowance that goes into landlords' pockets annually. We would be able to repay the money in ten years time. Even the European Investment Bank would accept the logic of that.

There are solutions if the Minister of State is interested in pursuing therm. Tragically, however, the real decisions are being made by the Minister for Finance. He knows that the banks are holding all of these properties and they want to inflate the properties' value in order to save their balance sheets. It suits the banks to have a crisis in which rents and property prices are increasing. Yet again, the citizens of this country are paying a terrible price for the-----

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will bring his remarks to a conclusion now.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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-----fact that the banks are being put before human beings. We appeal to the Minister of State to start building council houses, guarantee that all people will get a roof over their heads within an accessible distance of their children's schools-----

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Your time has expired.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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-----and provide the emergency assistance that people need so they are not homeless and sleeping in cars or hostels on the other side of the city.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Do not ignore the Chair, your time has expired.