John Paul Phelan (Fine Gael)

I thank Senator O'Reilly for sharing his time. I do not wish to repeat what has been said by several speakers but there are a couple of issues I will mention. I welcome the opportunity to have a debate, which I have sought for approximately three months. It is fitting for us to have it before the Houses rise for the summer.

I agree wholeheartedly with the comments of Senator Ó Domhnaill earlier when he referred to the role of banks. The reality is that for the past ten years the banks have creamed it in terms of the property market here. They are now responsible for a large part of the problem in the property market in terms of the difficulty younger people have in getting mortgages. I join the Senator's call that the banks adopt a more reasonable approach for the future to ensure we do not have an even worse problem in the housing industry.

There are a number of areas I will briefly touch on, including Senator O'Reilly's point regarding single people. The Minister of State comes from an area like my own, a rural part of Ireland. On several occasions I raised in the last Seanad the number of single men in particular who are still housed in prefabs in rural locations throughout the country. It is shocking, particularly in post-Celtic tiger Ireland. They are a much-neglected group. As we look to a time when money will be tight, one wonders if the problem will be resolved in the immediate future. Not enough has been done and I urge the Minister of State to leave a mark in that area in his time in the Department.

I disagree completely with the earlier comments of Senator Boyle. It is aspirational to say we could move away from a housing system based on ownership but the reality is that will not happen. In the Irish context, people want to own the roof over their heads. The Senator mentioned the colonial context and the wish to own land comes from the fact that for hundreds of years, Irish people did not own their houses and land. There is a very strong attachment between Irish people and property, which will not change. We must focus our energies on a realistic objective rather than a pie in the sky aspiration.

Everybody who wished to examine the industry over the past ten years knew the boom could not continue indefinitely. I was the finance spokesperson for four years in the last Seanad. The current Taoiseach was Minister for Finance at the time and his little helper was a man called Tom Parlon, who is now head of the Construction Industry Federation. The two of them took turns in coming into the House and any time a Senator — myself or other Opposition spokespersons — raised the idea that the housing boom could not continue and we could not base our economic future on an unsustainable boom, we were virtually laughed out of the room.

The chickens have now come home to roost and there does not appear to be a plan B. It is a shocking indictment of the Taoiseach in his time in the Department of Finance that we do not have such a plan. Everybody flagged this problem and he did not put correct measures in place to ensure we had a soft landing in the housing market.

Another area mentioned by a couple of people earlier is that of grant schemes. I agree with these comments. Most of these schemes are successful and many people in my area and throughout the country have availed of them to great effect in installing windows, changing roofs and putting in doors. The problem in Kilkenny is the money for this year's scheme was gone by May. I know there is a possibility of extra funding at the end of the year but it will be wholly inadequate. If we are looking to a future where there will not be as many houses constructed as before and people may not be looking to sell their current house for bigger and better accommodation, more people will look to those grant schemes to try to renovate their houses.

There have also been dramatic cutbacks across the country in terms of housing provided to local authorities for the provision of social and affordable housing. Perhaps the Minister of State will comment on that.

I will miss the Minister of State's response to the debate as I must do some constituency work but I was interested in the part of his contribution where he spoke of the surge in Part V housing units that we are currently experiencing. We are certainly not experiencing a surge in Part V housing units under the Planning and Development Acts in my part of the world. Perhaps it is happening elsewhere but it is not happening in Kilkenny and Carlow. Will the Minister of State clarify those remarks before he leaves?