Michael Brennan (Progressive Democrats)

I also welcome the Minister of State and I acknowledge the contribution of the Minister, who has now left the House. Affordable housing is an important issue throughout the country, as is flexibility and the implementation of Part V housing. I wish to make a point to the Minister and local authorities that there must be flexibility if affordable housing is to be a success. This is a golden opportunity for the Minister to provide funding for land bank initiatives. At a time when local authorities are making town and village plans, it would be important, were they to avail of funding provided to the initiatives and work with developers through PPPs, to get a mix of housing acceptable to local communities. It would do away with many problems created by implementing of Part V housing at a later stage. People would know what type of developments were taking place in their areas and fully support them.

The local authorities' voluntary housing scheme has been a significant success for the Minister of State's Department. It is a scheme whereby local communities the length and breadth of the county have provided housing units for their elderly. Together with the issue of health, it is important to give grant assistance for the care of the elderly in those housing schemes where extra allocations of units for them have been made. The care of the elderly could be provided in those fine complexes. I ask that the Minister of State examine the issue of this care because it provides a significant service at local level.

Much has been said about the quality of housing in Ireland and it should not be forgotten that much has been achieved over the past ten or 20 years. A total of 240,000 people work in the building industry now compared with only 92,000 in 1994 and €18 billion was spent in the building industry last year. Three out of every ten houses in Ireland have been built within the past ten years, which is almost 500,000 houses, with an average of 77,000 houses built last year. This rate is four times the EU level and a rate of which any Minister or Government can be proud. It is important that this development is sustained. I congratulate the Minister on the guidelines for one-off housing.

It is very important that the local authorities implement what the Minister has set out to do and that members of local authorities get what they want for their own areas. This can be achieved if they work together. In this regard the development levies moneys are being collected throughout the country. Much has been said about the lack of facilities which was the case in the past. The Minister must ensure that by working with national and perhaps national lottery funding, local and rural development can be grown.

With reference to the Water Services Programme 2000-2006, much has been said about the lack of local facilities. It is a worry to local councillors that water and sewerage schemes are falling behind schedule. It is very important that the funding is made available in the years ahead to bring those initiatives to fruition. The development of land in an area is dependent on that scheme coming on stream. I wish the Minister of State well for the future.