Jim Walsh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I join others in expressing best wishes to our former colleague, Senator Harte, on his retirement from the Seanad and to wish him well in all respects, particularly in respect of his health. He was most unfortunate to have had the accident he had and I suppose there but for the grace of God go any of us.

I wish to raise the issue of housing about which we heard a lot over the summer months. Unfortunately, the words have not been matched by action in this area, which is regrettable. The fact that, in the lifetime of this Government, we have allowed construction of housing, particularly in the public sector, to fall to the levels it has fallen is a very significant contributory factor to the crisis and the levels of homelessness we now see. In 2013, 8,300 houses were built. The figure increased slightly to 11,000 in 2014. It needs to be done on an annual basis. Having just come out of a recession caused by a property bubble, we are on the cusp of another one, particularly in the capital city, and very little action is being taken to address it.

I am calling for a number of things to be done. The cost of houses must be controlled and I am looking for the restoration of the certificate of reasonable value, which applied a number of decades ago and which could have an effect in controlling house prices. I am asking that mortgage interest relief, which was abolished by this Government in 2012, be restored at the marginal rate in order to assist those trying to get on the property ladder. I would like to see action taken in respect of the scandal of high variable mortgage rates, which has been allowed to continue and about which we have heard a lot of talk by the Minister for Finance and other politicians. I would like to see it tackled seriously to force the banks to bring them down to competitive rates. The banks have never borrowed at more competitive rates.

If we are to tackle this issue, it must be met with a significant improvement in capital investment, which this Government again slashed in 2012, in local authority house construction. That is the only solution and it must be effected in the budget. If politicians and the Government are serious about it, we should see that reflected in the Budget Statement of the Minister for Finance on 13 October 2015.