Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

The Minister, Deputy Cullen, said the Government is committed to making Part V of the legislation work and that his aim is to remove obstacles and eliminate rigidities that are slowing down supply. I do not accept that. This Bill is a backward step. The Government should have held its ground with regard to the social housing provisions of the Principal Act. It is sending the wrong signals to developers, who have been holding out on this provision in the hope of facing down the Government. Why would they not hope the Government would back down? It has done U-turns on every other measure aimed at shifting the balance of the housing market away from developers. They expect this type of U-turn.

The Bill will make delivery of the Part V provisions on social and affordable housing less likely. I listened to the comments of Members from the various parties, including Fine Gael. I do not understand their logic on this issue. The difficulty in the housing sector is the availability of land. All development land is largely in the hands of developers. It is extremely difficult for local authorities to acquire it. They are outbid by private developers, so money is no use to them in terms of the provision of social housing. The other problem is that the Government and local authorities are failing to deliver council and affordable housing. This provision was the only measure that was going to produce a quantifiable amount of social and affordable housing over the next few years.

Neither the media nor the leadership in the Government has confronted how bad the housing situation has become. More private houses will not solve the problem because builders phase the delivery of houses so the price continually increases. That practice will remain in place for the foreseeable future. Building more private houses will not make a house affordable for the average couple. The affordable housing scheme was announced with great fanfare by the Government some years ago. Practically nothing has been delivered on that by local county councils.

I raised a question at my council meeting yesterday in relation to a four-year house construction programme which we started two years ago. We had money from the Government to deliver approximately 1,400 council houses but in 2000 we delivered 103 houses and in 2001 we delivered 140. In 2002 we have delivered fewer again. We are not managing to deliver on our council housing targets. Giving more money to councils, as provided for in this Bill, is no use in terms of providing housing for those who cannot afford current house prices.