Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We welcome the Bill which, effectively, will streamline the planning process from a ministerial perspective. It follows on from recommendations of the Mahon tribunal, notwithstanding current challenges in housing. While we are supporting it, one of the concerns is that if some guidelines of planning institutions go beyond the national standards in terms of quality and what they bring to it, we would not seek to undermine those or give a blanket no to any improvements.

I am specifically speaking about the situation in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council which has plans and regulations for passive housing in particular. Nationally, we should be opposed to that on the basis that it is too cumbersome and will take too long and is too expensive and so on to allow that go on. I would not have that perspective on it and I ask that while ensuring the Minister has adequate powers to get the right policy across each local authority in the country, that in certain instances where that is surpassed by the initiative of those councils themselves then we should welcome that and facilitate it to the extent possible.

On the surface, passive housing can be looked at as being more expensive. If we were undertaking a large development where a lot of stuff is prefabricated it could actually be less expensive. We should be careful on that issue and not have it written in stone that if local authority A or local authority B is going an extra mile on certain aspects, we do not say an automatic "No" and that, at a minimum, we would look at it on a case-by-case basis.

Obviously there is an SDZ aspect to it. It is essential that there is a centralised involvement, while not wishing to take from local planners, councillors or the executives of the councils in terms of their input to major projects throughout the country. If nothing else it is important when the correct project is being planned that while everyone has the opportunity to comment on it and there is a planning process in place for it, we have it streamlined so that it is not an application on the never never. It is important that the Government of the day has the powers to intervene quickly to facilitate the process, albeit that it may not work out in favour of the development overall. While the Minister mentioned that this was very much with a housing crisis in mind and the fact that we have a national crisis, he has been looking at having different measures from modular housing to rent controls implemented that will make life easier for the 700,000 people in the rental sector.

I wish to make a few suggestions. Local authorities throughout the country seem to have a basic self-determined rule of not buying or renting houses in former council schemes. Certainly in Sligo that is part of the policy. I think that is wrong and a bad policy. The Minister's officials could do worse than to check with each of the local authorities. It is an unwritten rule but certainly, in practice, it does not happen in Sligo. The reason is that the local authority wants to get to a situation which was perhaps the vision of Part V that we have full integration between people who are mortgaging their houses to people who are in social and affordable housing and so on. That is very honourable if one is dealing with a blank canvas. Sadly, nationally, that is not the case so we have to take cognisance of the social balance in a number of places. I use Sligo as an example. Throughout the Part 5 era, any developments had to have that or they had to swap their land or pay money in lieu. In Sligo we had the third highest social mix in the country, after Cork and Limerick. With a national average of about 14% to 16%, Sligo was 33%, Cork was marginally more than that and I think Limerick was 36% or thereabouts, give or take a percentage, or maybe I am forgetting the figures. While we all want more social housing we have to be cognisant of what the landscape looks like and how we can best meet the challenges.

Looking at the former scheme, this will be a short-term measure. How many former local authority homes lying empty throughout the country are for sale? I can assure the House one can buy four for the price of a house on the open market. There is probably a stock of housing around the country that at a minimum can provide a short-term measure. Presumably these units would have be refurbished but I am sure that solution would be at least as quick as modular housing and in parallel with modular housing. Obviously that is being done and it is welcome.

Developers cannot get money. Leaving aside all the boom, bust and the developers we all grew to vilify and hate who led us down the track, it is evident we are missing developers who are prepared to take risks, get capital and build houses. It is not happening because they cannot get money. Most builders who were involved for a number of years were either so big that they are dealing with NAMA or have refinanced themselves abroad and are going again. However, the average developer who built 30 houses per year is either a bankruptcy tourist or is negotiating with the banks here and has a bad credit rating and they just will not give him or her any money. That is a real problem and I am not sure how we can deal with it. I know there is the Strategic Investment Bank but its money is at a rate of 16%. If its interest rates are at that level, one would need to come in with a squeaky clean track record. If one is up on the credit bureau I do not think it would lend one 50 cent. This is an issue we need to look at.

In planning nationally we have to take cognisance of the fact that people live outside cities and towns throughout the country. I know the Minister is from a rural county. County Leitrim has a major problem. We are using the excuse nationally to say there are loads of houses for sale. If a person wants to build a house in Sligo he or she will ask for a site but Daft.ieand MyHome.iestate there are 150 houses for sale.There was a rule some years ago where the child of a farmer, while not guaranteed planning, would be facilitated subject to the design and the correct septic tank system being installed. The Minister of State would do the nation a service if she would look at this possibility. There are specific grounds for it in County Leitrim where there is a particular issue with soil. Not all people in Ireland live in cities and we must provide for that.

A radical proposal on the housing issue was suggested to me recently. It might produce giggles from some Members but my belief is that if one is to dream, one should dream big. One might then come up with a workable solution. There will be an underspend in each of the Departments, apart from the Departments of Health and Social Protection, and hundreds of millions will come back in. That money could be used to purchase compulsorily the housing stock that underlies the security on loans sold by IBRC to Mars Capital and Pepper. They would have paid a knock-down rate for them so they could be made the subject of a compulsory purchase order, CPO, at an appropriate level and this would provide cheap housing stock for us throughout the country. It might open up problems on the other side in that some of the housing could be in areas overpopulated with social housing or on land swapped under Part V obligations, but if there are underspends in each Department next year, we will not be able to increase spending accordingly because of the new rules coming in. I can see that the Minister of State is thinking of her Christmas break and feels all this is too radical for her to embrace, but the likes of Mars Capital and Pepper do not care about the property, the loan or the client. They just care about profit. They bought books of loans for a certain sum and they are happy to sell them to regain their money plus a margin. If somebody looked into this, it could provide us quickly with a supply of stock.

We welcome the Bill and look forward to Committee Stage.