Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

The help-to-buy scheme for first-time buyers, involving refunds of income tax and DIRT paid over the previous four years, is also in place.

Having acknowledged that progress, I want to focus on what we are discussing today, namely, a report on progress made in the fourth quarter of 2016, from September to December. I note that under Pillar 1 - homelessness, the progress report provides updates on 15 action items. We see that two are incomplete, five are on schedule and eight are complete. However, we also know that there are a number of issues outstanding. Under Pillar 2 - accelerating social housing, the objective is to deliver an additional 47,000 social housing units up to 2020-2021. The progress report, which provides an update on 13 action items, shows that none are incomplete, which is positive, seven are on schedule and six are complete. They are the facts before us. Under Pillar 3 - building more homes, the progress report shows that four key objectives are incomplete, two are on schedule and five are complete.

I will now take a closer look at four items contained in the second quarterly progress report on Rebuilding Ireland - Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness which was published in February 2017, namely, actions Nos. 1.1, 2.1, 3.1 and 3.9 on pages 18, 29, 37 and 41 respectively. Action No. 1.1 reads as follows: "We will accelerate and expand the Rapid-Build Housing Programme to provide, in the first instance and as a priority, more suitable accommodation for families". The report states that at the end of 2016, a total of 350 rapid-build homes were advancing and the status of the action is "incomplete". I ask the Minister of State to address that issue in his response later. Action No. 2.1, the status of which is "on schedule", is to "substantially increase the delivery of social housing" units. To be fair, in 2016, the target was 4,240 homes which was exceeded by approximately 1,000. I want to acknowledge that.

Action No. 3.1 is the establishment of a €200 million local infrastructure housing activation fund, the status of which is "incomplete" and progress here has been extremely disappointing. This was one of the key deliverables that the Department and the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Coveney, set out to address the housing crisis. The Government has been in office for almost a year now. We need to know more about this. I understand that approximately 74 proposals were submitted and that around 22 city and county councils engaged but we need to see action in this area. By March, the Government was supposed to have announced its favoured options. I have a major concern about this matter. I have heard from several local authorities that lands in their ownership, that is, public lands, have no infrastructure or a shortage of appropriate infrastructure but they cannot get funds to provide that infrastructure and deliver social housing. I am talking here about State lands, property that is owned by the State. At the same time, the Department is considering advancing substantial public funds to private developers to develop private lands, but for whom? They will build developments of ten to 20 units which will be rented out for between €2,000 and €3,000 per month. There is a serious problem here. I ask the Minister of State to go back to the Department and analyse this more closely. We cannot have a situation where 31 local authorities have substantial landbanks, for which they have paid millions, which they cannot develop for social and affordable housing because of a lack of basic infrastructure. In many cases, the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government sanctioned the purchase of these sites which are now sitting on the books of the local authorities. The Minister of State will know the councils to which I am referring. How can the Department square ignoring them with giving private developers substantial sums of money in order that they can make money? That said, I have no difficulty with profits per se.

I will wrap up on action 3.9, which reads as follows: "We will support the development of on-line planning services for the local authority sector and An Bord Pleanála". This was another key tenet of the Government's housing policy. The Minister of State insisted previously in this House that this would be brought on stream very quickly but we will not see it being rolled out for many more months. The Planning and Development (Amendment) Bill has not progressed through the Houses and it will be months before it is enacted. We were told that it was critical and that it would get through the various Stages in the Oireachtas before Christmas and that the Minister did not want it to be delayed. While I wish the Minister and the Minister of State well, I believe this is an issue that must be addressed now. I have two final points to make and appreciate-----