Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I would make the fair comment that we should all reflect on what is fair debate and what is bullying and that should be considered in future debates.

We have huge challenges. I certainly welcome announcement by the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, on the affordable mortgages scheme. It will help some but not enough people. We face challenges in delivering affordable housing, addressing rental costs and in allowing, as Senator Boyhan said, everybody to have access to a home and a roof over their heads.

We must also reflect on how we got into this situation. I had the honour to work with community groups in the Dublin Docklands Development Authority along with Councillor Dermot Lacey when we developed the 20% social and affordable housing provision. The split was 10% social and 10% affordable housing. Credit must be given to the former Minister, Noel Dempsey, who came down and examined that provision and took it on board as part of Government policy. I would consider him to have been probably one of the best Ministers with responsibility for the environment that we have had in recent years. He championed the 10% social and 10% affordable housing provision while he was Minister. Unfortunately, he was not Minister for long enough. We then had the former Minister, Martin Cullen and the influence of the Progressive Democrats on that Fianna Fáil-led Government. Martin Cullen's changing of the regulation with respect to the 10% social and 10% affordable housing provision meant that right through the boom era, no social or affordable housing was built. That was directly related to Martin Cullen, and the influence the Progressive Democrats had on that Government. It destroyed our housing stock over that period. We have to learn that lesson and not make the same mistake again. I was part of the Government, as was the Minister of State, Deputy English, that tried to start house building again. That is why a regulation was introduced that there would be no opt out of the 10% provision; there would be no buy-out or alternative - many local authorities had taken a buy-out instead of providing housing - and that was a good decision.

Now the economy has moved on and we need to look at other solutions. Following on from the Leader's comments, I have always got down and dirty when it has come to building houses. We had the city housing initiative, which operated out of the Ringsend area, and resulted in the building of affordable homes. Many tens of families were housed because of its work and the cross-party assistance provided. I have also identified social housing need and worked to deliver social housing against the local community's wishes because there is always an element of nimbyism, in that people want social houses but they want them built somewhere else. We saw that, unfortunately, with the proposed rapid-build housing across this country. I use the word "unfortunately", because we must remember that the new members of communities are the people who rebuild communities.

We need to take action and we need to do so now. We need to look at low-hanging fruit. I have raised the issue of Airbnb or short-term lets with the Minister of State on many occasions. Airbnb is used as the handy word to describe short-term lets. We have seen in Dublin that the migration of long-term lets to short-term lets in area stretching from Phibsborough to Stoneybatter to Ringsend has had a disastrous impact on housing.I have stated repeatedly to the Minister of State, Deputy English, that action by the Government could put 3,000 additional units back into the housing market in the Dublin region alone. That is a tough decision because of the impact on the tourism sector to forgo that income to put families for whom these homes were designed into them. That is the decision I have asked the Government to make repeatedly. The former Minister, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, set up a working group and there was no report. The Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, introduced a working group and we still have not seen a report from it. Two circular letters were issued, one by the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and one by the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. In fairness, Deputy Eoghan Murphy has stated he will be looking at enforcement regulations and results.

I ask the Minister of State, Deputy English, to investigate. Is he aware that the interpretation of the planning laws is that residences of four bedrooms or fewer do not need planning permission to become short-term lets? That has been the decision of planning enforcement officers and no enforcement action has been taken against them. That is disastrous for Dublin, Cork and Galway because we will see greater migration of two-up two-down homes to short-term letting, thereby putting families into hotels and tourists into homes. That is unacceptable. Unfortunately, it is due to the failure of the Government to take action. It is not as though it has not been highlighted. It is not as though it has not been brought to the Minister of State's attention because I am sick of bringing it to the Government's attention. I see on a daily basis family homes being turned into short-term lets. It has had an enormous impact on the community I live in because it has made people who go out to work every day homeless. That is a grave indictment of the Government.

In a Commencement debate March last, I asked the Minister of State to bring forward a pilot scheme for affordable and cost rental accommodation. Deputy English may remember, in the old Chamber, stating that we do not need a pilot scheme and that it was the intention of the Government to bring forward a national scheme. He has failed. What we have seen in the recent announcement by the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is a pilot scheme on affordable and cost rental accommodation for Dún Laoghaire. We have wasted nearly a year. The matter was highlighted and nothing was done.

I will highlight another issue that the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, referred to in the Dáil, that is, the development of Poolbeg west. Poolbeg west, which is in the centre of Dublin, has the potential to deal with a supply issue within the city. It involves 3,500 units. The 10% requirement will give us 350 social housing units. There has been a commercial agreement to which Dublin City Council, the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and the receiver are party. I have been informed that those units may not be affordable. We have no clear definition of affordable housing. That strategic development zone, SDZ, is currently before An Bord Pleanála with the proviso of 10% affordable housing. The commercial agreement is outstanding. It is with great reluctance, and because of inaction by the Department, that I say that if the first planning permission going to An Bord Pleanála on that site does not include affordable units, cost rental accommodation or affordable rental accommodation, I will challenge that. I will seek discovery papers from the Department, the receiver and Dublin City Council because I believe they will no longer be commercially sensitive. It will be a clear breach of an agreement across the three bodies. The Department was on the phone to Dublin City Council as that vote went through Dublin City Council. The Department is a party to the agreement, so is the receiver. The councillors, in good faith, voted for that in the commercial agreement. If that agreement is broken - the Minister of State should be very careful - I will take the Department through the courts.