Michael Finneran (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fianna Fail)

I thank Senators for their attention and contributions to the debate. I outlined earlier some of the remarkable progress being made in the delivery of the housing policy reforms set out in the policy statement, Delivering Homes, Sustaining Communities. I assure Senators I am committed to driving the housing agenda forward positively within the resources available. My focus will continue to be on addressing real needs and achieving this objective in a manner that builds sustainable communities.

Before responding to some specific points raised in the debate, I will refer in more detail to an initiative I mentioned in passing in my opening remarks, namely, the incremental purchase scheme. The objective of the scheme is to make it possible for households with income lower than for affordable housing to start on the path to home ownership. The scheme will be made available to existing and prospective tenants of rented social housing to purchase new local authority housing. For social housing applicants, the scheme offers the earliest possible start on the path to home ownership for those willing and able to undertake a house purchase.

The proposed scheme is based on the development of the shared equity concept, whereby an applicant would be allowed to build up an equity stake in a new local authority house in an incremental fashion in return for purchasing a stake in the unit up front and taking over responsibility for the property from the day of purchase. The scheme will promote mixed tenure and a broader income mix in social housing estates, fostering stability and community commitment from the outset, as well as optimising available resources through a reduction in ongoing management and maintenance costs and additional sales receipts to fund further social housing provision and improvements.

I acknowledge the important role played by the voluntary and co-operative sector in responding to housing need. This was underlined by the unprecedented 2,200 new housing starts the sector delivered in 2007. Its projects are supported through generous capital funding schemes from my Department, which provide up to 100% of the approved cost of permanent accommodation for low income families and groups with special needs. In response to this greatly increased level of output, a record €290 million will be made available to the sector by my Department this year.

Senator Coffey referred to the shared ownership scheme. Evidence available to my Department indicates that the level of take up in respect of this scheme has been low in recent times. That is one of the reasons I am bringing forward the new loan scheme to which I refer. I am of the view that the new scheme, in respect of which we have done a great deal of research, will be a success and will bridge the gap between affordable and social housing.

The Senator also referred to local authorities building their own housing estates. The current view is that the old type of local authority housing estate is no longer desirable and that a mix of private, affordable, social and voluntary housing is required. It is generally accepted that this is the best way to develop housing policy and sustaining communities.

Senator McFadden has an interest in the Battery Heights project, which I visited last week. I have made arrangements for representatives of Athlone Town Council to meet officials of the Department next week. It is hoped that plans in respect of the area will be progressed at that meeting.

Senator Butler referred to better management on the part of local authorities and inquired about houses that are returned to those authorities. I am conscious that in some local authority areas, houses are left vacant and are not refurbished as quickly as might be desired. I intend to have an audit carried out in respect of this matter in the future in order to discover whether improvements can be made. The Senator also requested an audit in respect of empty houses. Such an audit would be important because such houses could be refurbished and rented out to new tenants.

I was somewhat taken aback by Senator Butler's comment to the effect that houses to which improvements have been carried out and which are then returned to local authorities are again refurbished by those authorities. I will discuss the matter further with the Senator when the opportunity presents itself.

Senators O'Reilly, Ó Domhnaill, John Paul Phelan and others referred to single people. Not all local authorities operate in the way outlined in respect of such individuals. Perhaps the Department should initiate an investigation in respect of this matter. There is no reason single men should be discriminated against. The needs of such individuals are accommodated by the housing officers of both local authorities in my constituency. We will investigate this matter in the interests of encouraging fair play for single men.

Senator O'Reilly also referred to the insulation of houses. There are already in place a number of pilot schemes in this regard. We have received extremely positive reports in respect of these schemes. I have an particular interest in the schemes relating to housing for the elderly that are being developed under the partnership and social inclusion programmes.

Senator Ó Domhnaill and others referred to the banks. I do not have any influence over the banks. Prior to becoming Minister of State, however, I served as Chairman of the Joint Committee on Finance and the Public Service. One of the first things I did when I took over the chairmanship of that committee was to visit the United States to investigate what had happened in the banking sector there. I was taken aback to discover that approximately 40,000 brokers in that country had given loans to people who, in many cases, were not in a position to make the repayments relating to them. This is what gave rise to difficulties in the sub-prime market in the US. There is something now in place in that country which is called "jingle mail", whereby people put their house keys in an envelope and send them back to the banks.

The problems with sub-prime lending in the United States arose on foot of a lack of proper regulation. Ireland has a single regulator. In the US there are a number of regulators but there is no regulation whatsoever in respect of brokers. We are fortunate that we do not have a difficulty as regards sub-prime lending. I accept, however, that some people here obtained 100% mortgages. I am not in a position to state the number of these who were first-time buyers.