John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

A few months ago when the issue of development charges first arose, I listened in absolute amazement to the Minister, Deputy Cullen, say that this was an attempt by the Government to get something back from the developers and invest it in local communities. Was he seriously suggesting that developers would end up out of pocket, that they would not pass on these charges to the people buying the houses? It does not make sense. If the Minister expects people to believe that, he is sadly mistaken and this will be made clear to him in the near future.

A scandalous situation has arisen over the past few months. In my county of Kilkenny, development charges have increased from €1,200 per house to anything from €5,000 to €8,000 per house. That is a significant new tax on people who are trying to provide their own homes. It has been implemented in Kilkenny, and most other parts of the country, by local authorities controlled by Fianna Fáil. In Carlow the levy has been increased to a level that is lower than the old scheme in Kilkenny, but the Carlow council is controlled by Fine Gael and the Labour Party with the help of a few other people. If this can be done in County Carlow, why can it not be done in County Kilkenny?

Other speakers mentioned the abolition of the first-time buyer's grant. In the overall context this was not a large amount of money, but many people used it to defray costs and to help furnish their houses. At the time of its abolition the Government used the excuse that this money was simply going into the back pockets of developers and that taking the grant away would not affect buyers, but it clearly has done so. We have not seen the knock-on decrease in the cost of new homes that we would expect if we followed the Government's logic.

As a younger person who is in the process of buying a new house, I represent a sector of society that has been completely neglected over the past seven years. In that period the cost of an average house has more than trebled. There has been no recognition by Government, either locally or centrally, of the problem faced by that sector of society. I am very pleased that the Labour Party tabled the motion, which I support. I wish sincerely that the Minister of State and Government Senators would open their ears and minds and accept there is a significant problem. Instead of making grand statements and big promises about 10,000 affordable units, which they did prior to the last general election, they should get down to the nitty gritty of providing real comfort for people who are trying to get their foot on the first rung of the property ladder.