Aideen Hayden (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Noonan, to the House. I know we have all asked for him to attend on a number of occasions. I was particularly keen to address some of the issues regarding banking and mortgage arrears with him. However, this is a more general discussion on economic growth and job creation. While we have certainly seen the headline figures mentioned in the Minister's speech, certain aspects of the programme the Government is pursuing are worth mentioning in terms of their positive developments. In particular I highlight the changes we have made to the tax code, equalising tax over income tax and capital taxes. I regard that as a very positive development. It is also very positive that we have initiated broader forms of tax in order that we will not be so dependent on certain types of taxation. There are taxes that certain people can avoid by behaving like Cinderella and leaving the country on certain days of the year.

I do not believe we have done enough to bring the self-employed within social protection and giving them a floor below which they cannot fall. I have never been a great believer of the ethos of Mr. Charlie McCreevy that people can make a trolley load of money when times are good, but when times are bad that is too bad for them. I have always believed that the best thing we can do for the self-employed is to give them the kind of security they need to take the kinds of chances they want and need to be able to take for us to have an entrepreneurship economy. I also feel we have not gone far enough in addressing what I see as a looming pensions crisis, something that will come back to haunt us.

As the events of the week in Ukraine have shown us, it is clear we are very much a small open economy. Our recovery is momentous within the context of the economy, but within the context of the wider framework we are very much dependent on the European Union and what happens there. The Government has been to some extent engaged in crisis management - very effective crisis management. I give full credit to the Minister, Deputy Noonan, for that. We now need to look forward and be judged on what we do. A philosopher or historian once said that one should never waste a good crisis. For example, in the 1960s Mr. T. K. Whitaker made incredible strides in the Irish economy by moving us in giant steps rather than in small steps. Politically within Fine Gael, as the Minister knows, the "just society" document was important in moving the Fine Gael Party along a different trajectory in terms of a more equal society.

It is no longer business as usual. While we have exited the bailout with top-of-the-class gold stars, the question is where we go from here. I believe the eyes of the world are on us to see how we move forward and what type of country we build. Within that, I wish to raise a few issues with the Minister. The Taoiseach recently responded to a question on the right to housing that had been brought forward in the Convention on the Constitution by saying we needed approximately 30,000 units of housing a year but were producing fewer than 8,000 and it was all heading in the wrong direction.

As the Minister knows, homelessness is on a very significant upward trajectory, particularly in the Dublin region. It is not just a Dublin issue, but is emerging in other urban areas, including the Minister's city of Limerick. This is not just noteworthy because of the social distress it causes. It is the first time we have seen this type of homelessness emerge because of a lack of affordable housing. Although we have exited the bailout we are not in a position to stimulate investment in the economy to any great extent as previous governments could, for example in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The Minister has said we need a stimulus for the construction sector which at below 6% has fallen well below the level needed in a developed economy such as ours.

I welcomed the measures the Minister introduced in the budget when I spoke in October and again in January. I am concerned we are stimulating a construction sector that is, in effect, creating greater demand in the economy without creating more housing, which is a very significant problem. We need a very significant stimulus package of approximately €1 billion to construct about 6,000 social housing units as a starting point to bring us up to having in the region of 15% of our overall housing stock in social ownership. If we do not go in that direction, the shortage of housing will be the biggest issue the Government will face in 12 months time.

We have a major issue with mortgage arrears. I accept the Government has set targets for the pillar banks. However, I fear that the worst of this debacle is still to come. I engage with lending institutions and clients dealing with those institutions every day of the week. I have a serious concern about the level of repossessions I believe we will see in the next 12 months. I have always had a very deep concern about the balance of power in the relationship between distressed borrowers and the banking institutions with which they are dealing.

There is a lack of expert service available to people in mortgage arrears which would allow them to negotiate real and sustainable solutions with their mortgage providers. I do not believe it is enough to say we have insolvency legislation as if that addresses the issue, because I do not believe it does. I do not believe people want to or should be forced down the road of insolvency or bankruptcy to solve the problem. We very much need an expert service to assist people to come to a real resolution to their mortgage arrears.

I take this opportunity of the Minister being in the House to say there is a major issue with separated people or people who have suffered marital breakdown resolving their mortgage arrears. If we do not have a change in the legal process covering separated couples or people who were never married in the first place but entered into joint mortgages, we will end up in a very difficult situation.

I know the Minister has a particular view about the buy-to-let market. Figures produced at the end of the last quarter of 2013 show that a very significant number of receivers have been appointed to buy-to-let properties. There is a very significant issue with the treatment of tenants in these properties when receivers are appointed, and the law needs to be changed in this regard.

I do not believe we will have banking as usual any time soon. I thought the Minister had made some very positive comments about a third banking force. I gather I might have misinterpreted them, but I think it will be necessary. I could see us going back to a position where people would need to lodge their first Holy Communion money with a building society to get a loan. I do not believe ordinary people will be able to avail any time soon of the kinds of banking services they have been used to for the past 15 or 20 years. It behoves us as a nation to come up with a solution to that problem.

While I know this is unpopular with Senator Barrett, I would like us to use the tax code positively to benefit people on the lower end of the spectrum. We should use the tax code to build housing for people who are less well off and not three bedroom semi-detached houses peppered all over south County Dublin when we know we will have a greater need for housing for single people and we will have an ageing population.

I would like us to think really carefully about where we go from here. I would appreciate it if the Minister came back to us for a specific debate on banking. We could explore some of the options in the banking sector, not least what happened recently with Irish Nationwide Building Society. As somebody who worked as a solicitor, I was shocked to discover the lack of contractual protection that was going to be given to those people on the INBS loan book. I know we have all focused on the MARP and the protections in the code of conduct on mortgage arrears. Nobody has mentioned their vulnerability to mortgage interest increases.