Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Government to be cognisant in the forthcoming budget of the financial struggles that will be placed on hard-pressed families come September. They will be hit with a three-pronged attack of massive price hikes to basic services. There will be higher electricity charges, higher waste charges for those unable to recycle, and back to school expenses. The hike in electricity costs will be caused by the Government's public service obligation levy, which will result in an increase in bills. Will the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment consider blocking or decreasing this increase? Will he also ask service providers to insert an affordability clause into their contracts? I mentioned previously that the Minister is sitting on a report on the implementation of a national waiver scheme for waste charges. I ask the House to call on him to publish the report without delay.

The second issue I would like to raise, which I raise at least once a week, is the housing crisis and the property bubble. In particular, I refer to the use of family hubs in Dublin. We are witnessing a frenzy again in the property market. Buzz words such as "gazumping" are being bandied about again for the first time since the Celtic tiger era. Prices jumped by 12% between January and May with an unprecedented hike in April, according to recent housing reports. There are serious concerns about history repeating itself with another property bubble given the inflated house prices. This is ultimately caused by the big white elephant in the room, which is supply. The Government needs to urgently bring in measures to reduce VAT, streamline and cut the cost of building regulations and development levies, and introduce a "use it or lose it" tax. Yesterday, I mentioned our feminised homeless population and today I would like to flag my concerns about the use of family hubs in Dublin to house our homeless families. I envisage these hubs to be the direct provision centres of the future in which we house our own citizens. I do not agree with this policy. We are creating mini-ghettos where mothers are unable to dictate the pace of their child's development with no privacy, autonomy, or basic ability to provide a home cooked meal for their child. It is envisaged that families will spend more than three months in these hubs. This is unrealistic given our huge supply issue. I call on the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to act expediently on this matter and on the supply issue in the State.