Michael McCarthy (Labour)

I second the motion. I welcome the Minister of State to the House and look forward to this debate. I served for four years on a local authority the majority of members of which were Fine Gael, Labour and Independent councillors. The housing record of that local authority was somewhat exemplary when compared to South Dublin County Council's record.

When I entered public life at the age of 22, some five years ago, one of the single biggest issues primarily affecting young people was housing. Many classes of people are included in the bracket of those finding it difficult to obtain housing of some description, including those with means and, unfortunately, many of those without means. This is particularly true of young people living in areas of west Cork such as Schull or Goleen, areas of high tourist attraction in which real estate is more expensive. Young people in those areas are faced with having to pay from €300,000 to €350,000 for a house. That is beyond the threshold of many young couples and results in a huge demand for local authority housing.

Many good schemes are being administered through the affordable housing scheme, such as the serviced sites scheme. It is a good scheme whereby the local authority subsidises a serviced site, accepts applications, interviews applicants, assesses the applications on merit and then releases the sites for a nominal fee to the applicants. That scheme has provided many young couples in my constituency with a home. It has allowed them, within financial reason, to build a home for themselves. It is a good scheme on which I would like to see more emphasis in terms of national Government policy. Often, there is a category of people in the middle which is considered too well off to qualify for council housing and who cannot afford to build a house of their own. In that regard, this scheme works quite well.

The Government, under Sustaining Progress, is committed to building 10,000 additional affordable houses each year. That commitment was a fundamental aspect in the negotiation of a very difficult deal and was a particular requirement of trade unions which represent so many workers. Unfortunately, to date not one block has been laid and not one sod has been turned.