Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit anseo tráthnóna fosta. I welcome the Minister of State to the House to discuss this legislation which deals, in particular, with housing provision. I listened to what he had to say and I have read the legislation. I agree that the Bill does some of what is required but in my view this is a mere drop in the ocean in the overall scheme of things.

We have a major housing crisis in this country. There are 100,000 people on the housing waiting list, a further 100,000 are in difficulty in terms of paying their mortgages and are being pressurised by the banks, the courts are clogged up with repossession cases and there are people - including 1,000 children who were made homeless in the past two years alone - living on the streets. I will discuss the figures in a moment but it is my view that, particularly in the context of Part V, this legislation is completely supportive of the construction sector and does nothing for families that are in crisis or individuals who are in need of housing. This Bill is a golden opportunity for the construction lobby. We saw rent-seeking behaviour in the past when Fianna Fáil was in government. At that time, the construction sector lobbied hard and it is now lobbying hard again. In fact, it has won. That is wrong. I agree that we need the construction sector to build houses but we do not need to bend over and bow down to them in order for this to be achieved. In economic terms there will be only one beneficiary of this legislation and that will be the construction sector. The taxpayer will not benefit from this legislation.

I welcome certain aspects of the Bill, to some of which the Minister of State referred. The vacant site levy has been heralded by the Government as something that will cure all of our ills. In my opinion, it will not do so. There has been discussion with regard to a 2% or 3% levy on the value of sites. Autonomy is being given to local councils and I welcome that. I also welcome the fact that councillors will be given autonomy to make decisions in electoral areas. However, it has been stated that the levy will not force banks to lend money in order to turn sites into homes for people. There are issues in this regard.

I welcome the fact that there will be retrospective application in the context of reduced development contribution charges. This is certainly a step in the right direction.Instead of the development contribution scheme, I would have preferred a requirement on the State to implement public policy to solve the crisis. It has an obligation to do so. How is this done? It must be radical and think outside the box. We have a housing crisis affecting people in their homes and those who cannot find a home who are stuck in a rent trap. How do we deal with this in a radical, forward thinking and innovative manner? The Bill should contain measures whereby over a period of time, perhaps three or five years, there would be a total exemption from development charges for individuals who want to build a home on their own land or where they buy a site. The development contribution scheme is charged by local authorities and depending on which the local authority is involved, it is a disincentive for individuals to build houses on their own land. I see it in my county and I know it happens in Meath, Kildare, on the commuter belt and in other parts of the country. We should look at this. We should introduce a grant scheme for individuals who want to build a house, such as there was in the 1980s when there was a shortage of houses. There should be a State-funded low interest loan system to take on the banks and force them to reduce their interest rates. Individuals could obtain mortgages at a realistic interest rate and not be fleeced by the banks as they are at present. Banks borrow money at just over 0% and make approximately 4% on the money. It is disgraceful.

A report carried out recently by the ESRI considered that an additional 18,000 units are required annually just to cover the country's housing needs between 2011 and 2021. The number of houses built in 2013 was just over 8,300. From where will the additional 10,000 units come? We do not have to depend on developers to build these units. We may need developers in certain parts of the country but not in all parts. Not everyone wants to live in the major cities. People want to live in the country and we should facilitate this by allowing them to build on their own land. We saw the regulatory burden introduced by the former Minister, Mr. Hogan, whereby according to the Architects Association of Ireland between €30,000 and €40,000 in regulatory red tape has been added to the cost of building a home. This is on the Government's watch when it is trying to solve a crisis. The Bill follows the introduction of new burdens and regulations to force higher standards of compliance after the pyrite issue in north County Dublin. A national compliance level was introduced to deal with one issue. Effectively, a public policy measure was introduced which has increased the cost of building for everyone across the board. This was very wrong.

Back in 2008, some €1.7 billion was being spent on social housing and last year the amount spent was €597 million. There has been a reduction in the budget available for social housing. The Minister of State has certainly outlined very clearly where he is coming from with regard to Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000. The Minister of State was critical of the manner in which Part V worked in the past and I agree with him. It was not flexible and had too many loopholes whereby developers could pay cash to local authorities. However, in saying this, it was probably the best system available. A review of Part V carried out by a group of consultants on behalf of the Housing Agency found it delivered 15,114 units, or 62.1% of affordable housing and 37.9% of social housing, or 3.5% of the total dwellings delivered, excluding one-off houses, over the period from 2002 to 2011.The second benefit was that sites were acquired in the 2002-11 period, providing 944 units across 20 counties. In addition, the money that was transferred from developers across local authorities provided a financial contribution to the taxpayer of €136.1 million.

It is right that we scrutinise the benefits of Part V. The consultants working on behalf of the Housing Agency concluded that, despite the failings of Part V, the gross benefit to the State was approximately €761 million when the administration charges and social and affordable units were taken into account and there was a net benefit of approximately €614 million in the 2002-11 period. The group of independent economic consultants who carried out that economic analysis of the Part V scheme concluded that it provided value for money, notwithstanding the limited number of units delivered in the period. The Minister of State asserted that the scheme was inefficient. Is that the Department's view? If so, on what basis does it dispute the economic analysis conducted on behalf of the Housing Agency?

What is being proposed will benefit developers greatly. We will put ourselves in the position of our level of social or community contribution from housing developments probably being the lowest in Europe.