Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Many contributions have been made. We are looking at a multifaceted approach and there are just a couple of points I would like to make.

My first point is around the issue of local authorities. We would expect that the local authorities provide all possible incentives to development, both residential and commercial. There is a need for that. However, I understand that in 2013, when Phil Hogan was Minister, guidelines were sent around to every local authority with a request to revise their development contribution schemes, and approximately one third of the 31 local authorities have failed to do so. In some areas in Mayo - where there had been, say, additional investment in water and sewage infrastructure - one could pay up to €5,000 just for that aspect of one's planning contributions on top of the regular price in other parts of the county. In the Minister of State's speech, he referred to dealing with the issue of development contributions. If this circular was sent out to the local authorities and the county manager failed to bring this before councillors for a democratic debate, bearing in mind that these development schemes were set up at the peak of the Celtic tiger era and that, in the case of Mayo, it comes back to the discretion of the manager, that is not any way to do business. Especially in the likes of Mayo, the cost of development contributions is a deterrent to development and one should not have to go cap in hand to a county manager asking him or her to do this or that. It should be done in a democratic fashion, and those who are interested in developing should know where they stand, which, in turn, would encourage them. It is poor that this is the rate, and I would ask that this be taken up with the local authorities that have failed to deal with this to date.

The other issue is the number of empty premises, particularly in town centres throughout the country. Much of the emphasis has been on the main housing crisis in the big urban centres, but there are housing problems throughout. Now that we are addressing these in an ambitious fashion, as the Minister of State described, similar to the Action Plan for Jobs, we must look at the situation of empty buildings in the middle of the market towns. It is something I have spoken on previously. Instead of leaving houses that have a lot of architectural value empty when the last person on a street passes away, and nobody goes into the houses - in rural areas, the problem is that people are building further and further out - we need to revitalise, repopulate and give a bit of a boost to small independent traders. The latter matter must be brought into it, because in talking about sustainable housing one is also talking about sustainable communities. The whole package must be brought to bear. There is a problem in that regard the length and breadth of the country, and no matter how good and how much full employment we get, in going into these towns, many of which are market towns, one will get depressed. I can well see how people would be depressed, because that is what one sees. When going around knocking on doors, I see it myself. It is something that we must tackle and have a vision for.

I would suggest that, rather than having developer-led initiatives as in the past, when sometimes there were incentives for development for which there was no clear market demand, we have a scheme providing for an area in the centre of a town to be zoned in conjunction with the local authority in a holistic approach, such that either an owner-occupier or a first-time buyer would receive either a grant or a tax incentive to buy such a property. We would be going back to places where people are prepared to live. When I go to continental Europe and see lovely towns and villages, I often think they are not lovely by accident. They are lovely because they have had a lot of TLC, a lot of planning and a lot of care. Then we should follow with amenities for these towns and villages - a playground or whatever else is needed. Indeed, in the case of rural areas, we should have a vision whereby within a certain radius one can be assured that one will find an ATM and a GP. Not all of these facilities will be implemented overnight, because there are other factors, including the difficulty of retaining GPs for various reasons. We have this vision, both urban and rural. That would be a way to go, and we must also support independent businesses by helping them, as opposed to the large multiples such as Tesco and Lidl, with commercial rates breaks. The large multiples are a different animal altogether, yet they are all being charged rates pretty much on the same formula. When one thinks about it, they are a different animal altogether, in terms of the market they control, compared to the small independent traders, which give vitality. Of course, the vision must mean that we no longer look at small towns and say that we must have corner shops everywhere. We also must acknowledge that retail has changed. I am going back to the point about communities. Housing and communities go together. Consumers are buying online. We create a different image and vision, and this is the challenge, through debate, that we have.

Finally, one of the objectives the Minister of State cited is for people to stay in their own homes. From my own experience, the practice of mortgage to rent and intervention by the local authority have not been the success that would imagine. Much more attention could be given to that. Then one would see benefits, with people able to stay in their own homes.

One issue that was raised this morning on the Order of Business - the problems of pyrite and mica - comes under the remit of the Minister of State. For those affected - both in Mayo and in Donegal, although I would be more familiar with Mayo, especially with pyrite in the blocks - we all would like to think we know where this is heading, which is that people will get assistance. I understand the complexities. They were overcome in the local authorities here around Dublin and further afield. I heard about a case a fortnight ago in which the person could not sell their house. It was when the person came to sell their house that the survey revealed the problem. I have heard of a couple of cases in which people could not afford to retain structural engineers to do the tests. The expert group needs to get out on the ground, sooner rather than later. It was indicated earlier that would not happen, perhaps, until September. It must happen sooner in Mayo. The drum has been beating for a long time. Things have been looked after here on the east coast. They need to be looked after on the west coast. These are people's homes. In fact, if it is not sorted, these people will be out of their homes and we will have another problem to deal with, aside from the stress that they are going through. I ask the Minister of State whether he is in a position, now or at another point, to get back to me on some of those points.