Paul Bradford (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I concur with Senator Mullen’s suggestion, which was made here on Second Stage of the Water Services (No. 2) Bill last year. I hope it will be taken on board. I support what Senator Hayden requested regarding the very obvious housing crisis. It is a long-playing record among those of us who are interested in housing and I have frequently called for urgent debates on our housing policy. While I appreciate that there is a new Minister who is talking about spending a certain amount of money, we must reflect on how the money should be spent. Let us not rush to resolve our housing crisis and cause a further social crisis. We must ensure our house building programme and mix of housing is appropriate and allows people a future in a community, not just in a housing estate.

During the 1960s and 1970s there was a very urgent housing need and a rushed building programme produced third-rate houses and corralled people into ghettos where social problems emerged. We must be careful how we respond to the problem and ensure the Government sees housing as a social need rather than an economic activity. I am worried that, judging by the media headlines, people see the building of houses and the extraordinary increase in house prices as signs of economic progress. We saw the tragic consequences of this during the past decade. Let us see housing as a human right, a social need and something which must be provided for the common good, not for the good of millionaire developers. While I concur with Senator Hayden’s request for an urgent debate, we must think in much broader ways than previously. The solution is not "one size fits all". The building of huge local authority housing estates did not work previously and we need a good social mix. First, we urgently need a debate.