Paul Bradford (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. This debate on the Finance (No. 2) Bill affords us the opportunity to review the nation's finances and the Government's policies. It comes at an opportune time, in terms of the ending of one political era and the beginning of another as Ireland prepares to exit the bailout programme. We learned today that the Taoiseach is scheduled to make a state of the nation address on Sunday, his second such address. I recall the first one two years ago, which was the cause of much speculation. At that time he was giving a summary of the difficulties and challenges which faced the Government, from an economic perspective. Presumably on this occasion he will try to outline a plan or vision for the future. In doing so, we must all try to ensure, along with the Taoiseach, that the type of political thinking and financial and fiscal approach which brought economic chaos to our country will not be repeated.

I wish to refer to one or two aspects of the Bill before us in the aforementioned context. I welcome the incentives given for house improvements because they will allow important construction work to be carried out and will create local employment. However, in the context of the broader housing debate, I ask the Minister of State, along with his Government colleagues to ensure that we have a very holistic debate about housing in this country. There has not been such a debate since the 1970s when we had the famous Kenny report. Government after Government has used housing, the price of houses, the income generated from VAT and other taxes, as an economic driver. The housing industry, rather than being an industry to provide families with homes and to build communities, has been used on many occasions to build a false economy. The approach taken in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s has put our country and economy in a very weakened position. Collectively, in these Houses and outside, we must have a very mature debate on our housing policy, our tax reliefs, our mortgage interest reliefs and other property-based incentives. I hold the Minister for Finance in the highest personal and political regard but when I heard him welcoming the fact that financial institutions are again about to offer special favours to landlords in the form of interest-free loans, as announced some days ago by certain banks, I became worried.