Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe. I am delighted to speak on the important issues of housing provision and the construction industry. We live in unprecedented times in terms of the construction of both social and private housing. A figure of 240,000 was mentioned. Will the Minister of State clarify whether this refers to the numbers working directly in the construction industry? We must bear in mind the large numbers of ancillary jobs in terms of services and builders' supply. In this context, the figure of 240,000 is probably an underestimate. How was it arrived at?

In Donegal, which is heavily dependent on the construction industry, young men leave Inishowen at 4 a.m. on a Monday morning, travel to Dublin or its outskirts in a van, begin work at 8 a.m. or 8.30 a.m. and continue until 7.30 p.m. They may work until 9.30 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday and until 7.30 p.m. on Thursday. At a time when it is advocated that we should not live in the past in terms of emigration, this represents a mass migration of workers from parts of Donegal to the east coast. The positive aspect of this is that young people can get work in the country and much money is being brought back to Donegal by workers in the sector. In terms of a sustainable future for the construction industry, however, we are living on a knife edge. We are self-deluded to believe this is sustainable in the long term.

Senator Brady referred to the design of houses. I agree with what he said. People should have far more input in terms of offering their opinion and advice on the type of estates in which they wish to live and the nature of the recreational and amenity areas that should be attached to them. When completing housing application forms, people can choose where they want to live but that is all. A person gives his or her details — name, address, number of children and current circumstances — and indicates the area in which he or she would like to live. However, nowhere on a local authority application form can applicants describe the type of estate in which they would like to live or whether they would like extra recreational amenities, a park for their children to play in or a safe area where their children can play among their friends.

People who go on housing application lists make no input whatsoever, which is wrong on the grounds that private applicants who wish to build on their own land have an input. They engage with architects. Their houses will be their dream homes where they will live and bring up their children. They have their own designs. They must work within a certain pattern or type of development but they have an input. A process should be facilitated or a mechanism created whereby applicants could have an input in terms of the type of estate design they would like. For example, 101 local authority houses were built in one Letterkenny estate in 1987. There were no recreational grounds, facilities or amenity or grass areas. Nothing was provided. After 18 years, successive residents' committees have failed in their attempts to get recreational facilities for the young people of that estate. This is wrong and is due to the fact that homework was not done initially and facilities and amenities not included. It is an ongoing battle. Successive hard working residents committees have faced obstacles and blockages in trying to express their needs for the people of the area. A plan is in place for the estate, Glenwood Park, and the current committee is working hard to make it happen. This is an example of poor planning and improper or no facilities, which was the wrong way to go about it.

The events to which I refer happened in 1987 but similar events still happen today. Developer-led estates are being built. We are buying from the plans of private developers as a result of large demand. This is wrong because single mothers of one or two children in Letterkenny are living in large four bedroom houses but cannot afford heating oil. There are no back boiler systems, which would allow them to buy coal, or plans in terms of conservation of energy, nor are there finances for people entering local authority housing because the proper homework is not being done. Demand exists and we must meet it. Therefore, we must endeavour to try to provide for it but we can still do our homework in terms of what types of facilities or housing is needed.

In the countryside, applicants who will live in SI houses or farmers' cottages, as we call them, have no input into which way their sitting rooms will face, on which side their bedrooms will be placed or into which part of their homes the early morning sun will shine. Such cottages will be their primary residences for the rest of their lives. This is an area we must examine closely and in respect of which we must give applicants an input. We may not be able to deliver everything they want but we could give them an input into some areas — for example, that relating to design — in which they can make an impression.

I will speak in the absence of Senator Brady as he spoke in Senator Bannon's absence. On the issue of first-time buyers, we live in a different era. How can Senator Brady, a Dublin representative, say that young people are not under the same constraints or do not have the same overheads now as they did in the 1980s? That is rubbish. Young people will have millstones around their necks for the rest of their lives. They buy apartments and houses for €600,000, €700,000 or €800,000. If they won the lotto in the morning, it would not even cover their mortgages. I do not know why they play the lotto because they would still be in debt if they won. A new generation of people is up to its tonsils in debt. This is the reality and it is a dangerous phenomenon because who knows what will happen in respect of interest rates, property crashes, etc.? I am not predicting a doomsday scenario but people are under serious financial constraints, which is a significant difference to the situation that obtained ten or 15 years ago.

On affordable housing, the Minister of State will be aware that Mr. Jack Nicklaus is to design a golf course in Carrigart. It is a lovely rural area and a nice spot. As a consequence of his arrival and input, the price of land will escalate. Farmers and people who own land in the area will benefit but the local community must be taken care of. Local people will be priced out of the land. A scheme that worked in Downings in north County Donegal is that of affordable housing. We should push for more affordable housing so that local authorities will buy land, service sites and help subsidise first-time buyers on the initial rung of the property ladder.

The gender of which the Minister of State and I are members is being discriminated against in the housing market. Men whose marriages break up, either through no fault of their own or as a result of their faults, and who must live in small apartments or rental accommodation and still contribute to paying the mortgages on their family homes, find themselves at the bottom of the pile when they apply to local authorities to be housed. They are treated as single men. A 44 year old male who is not with his wife and three children is placed on the bottom tier of a local authority's ladder. This problem must be addressed. I compliment Donegal County Council because it is working proactively and on an all-party basis to try to address the situation. This can be done in every other local authority area. However, policy is top-down in nature and there must be policy change. Non-resident men are being discriminated against, a matter we should be attentive to and tackle in the near future.