Caít Keane (Fine Gael)

The solution must be a long-term one. As I indicated, I am speaking to the future and working to correct the damage of the past. The emphasis is on the alleviation of debt for struggling homeowners, rather than waving a magic wand to fix the problem. Banks have responsibility to develop solutions.

Last month, the Cluid voluntary housing association completed its first transaction with the National Asset Management Agency. This is a positive development and I commend the Minister of State on activating a scheme with the voluntary housing agencies.

I have to commend the Minister of State for activating that with the voluntary housing agency. She has spoken about the deposit retention, so I will not dwell on that. The Government has a role to play in trying to deal with the mortgage arrears predicament and it is working on that.

There was good news today in respect of homeowners with tracker mortgages. They will now be able to move home and keep their valuable tracker rate. It would be good if the same scheme brought in by Ulster Bank could be used for people who bought houses under the shared ownership scheme from a local authority. These people are caught in a catch-22 situation, where they bear the brunt of falling house prices while the councils do not. They cannot rent their house because there is a clause in the shared ownership preventing this. I would like the Minister of State to look at this and try to do something for these people. They have their houses. They own 50% but they are caught in a difficult situation with the local authorities.

The Minister of State announced the social housing capital budget last week, and this is welcome. I know she had a difficult job on her plate to get what she could to preserve it. New buildings will not be the order of the day any more, but what she is doing in respect of social housing is welcome. A figure of €691 million is available under the social housing investment programme for 2012, and capital funding of €390 million is being provided for house construction, regeneration and improvement works this year. The Minister of State assured us last week that we are on course to deliver between 3,000 and 4,000 additional units of social housing.

The rent supplement situation is to be welcomed, as is the greater tenure neutrality. I will not dwell on the huge problem of unfinished housing estates, because most Senators have spoken about it. However, there is a case outside Dublin where the developer has given a bond to the council, but the council refuses to go in on it on foot of what happened in Mullingar. The council will not do the work. The money is there to do the work. I made a representation only recently to the Department, so perhaps the Minister of State might look at it. Councils fear being sued for doing work on a private estate that has not been taken in charge. Local authorities need to be informed that they will not be sued if they do the work, even if they take the bond and the money is there to do it.

I thank the Minister of State and her predecessor, Deputy Penrose. I hope she keeps up the good work. We must learn from the mistakes of the past and move on from here.