Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Hang on. I am getting there. Almost 10,000 people are homeless, more than 3,000 of them are children. We are a rich country so if money is not a problem, what is the problem? Homeless numbers are high. Home building numbers are tens of thousands behind what they should be. Ordinary workers cannot afford a home and those who have secured a mortgage are struggling. We are struggling here, Minister.

I and my party are calling on the Minister and his party to make changes, make a policy shift to establish an affordable housing scheme, increase social housing spending and strengthen the rental sector. This Government has to start delivering on housing. After four separate plans and over a dozen launches, it needs to put bricks and mortar in the ground. People need that. They do not need announcements and fancy photo opportunities. They need houses, and we need to see them getting the keys for their houses.

Supply and affordability is the key issue that must be addressed in order to get to grips with the crisis in the private, social and rental sector. In 2017, and this frightens me, only 60 apprentices registered for bricklaying and stone laying and 34 for plastering. That is far short of what is required to meet even the Government's target of a limit of 25,000 housing units. We are falling down in terms of the supply of bricklayers and stone layers. How can we build if we do not have builders? We need urgent action on

that. We need incentives to lure our builders back from Canada, Australia and America. We need to examine why those who have worked abroad and raised money for a deposit for their own homes are not qualifying for a mortgage because our banks will not take rent payments as proof of ability to pay. That is a major issue, and it is one of the biggest issues the Minister will have to deal with in the future. We have so much to examine but we need to work together on this issue.

Fianna Fáil has been working with the Minister's Government in a confidence and supply agreement on this issue and we will continue to put forward costed, credible ideas to work out all the layers of this complicated crisis. The vacant housing Bill has the potential to bring 4,000 new units into the system by streamlining planning for above-shop unit spaces. We have already put forward a new Bill to give the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, investigatory powers to reinforce rent pressure zones, RPZs. This week, we have approved a new Bill to extend rent pressure zones to purpose built student accommodation. I would argue that we need to look at the pockets of rent surges throughout the country and at rolling out rent pressure zones outside the commuter belts.

On 17 April the Minister announced a tenancy Bill in the Cabinet which states that any landlord in rent pressure zones will commit an offence if they increase the rent above 4%. I am very disappointed today. I have raised that issue with the Minister on several occasions. Our neighbouring counties, Wicklow and Kildare, are in rent pressure zones but Laois, Kilkenny, Wexford and Carlow are not in rent pressure zones. In terms of what has happened, the Department has put together a plan and neighbouring counties are in rent pressure zones but Carlow, my constituency, Kilkenny, Laois and Wexford are not in those rent pressure zones. That is unacceptable and I have highlighted that for the Minister on several occasions.

Fianna Fáil supports measures which have legislation to empower the RTB to undertake its own investigations, with the Social Democrats, to strengthen RPZs. We are also putting forward a new Bill to limit rent increases in student accommodation to 4%, which is the case in all rent pressure zones. However, those steps will not address the rent crisis. What is needed is a comprehensive cost rental model in cities across Ireland. That should use State lands to provide cheap, affordable units to rent for average income earners.

This tinkering around the edges will not resolve the crisis. I have said it twice but I cannot emphasise enough the importance of building houses. We need to examine why we are always playing catch-up on this crisis. We are late to every battle on it, and something has to change. Reactive policy has meant the State is always behind. We cannot continue as people die on our streets and stress breaks up families, especially those in arrears with their mortgages.

The Minister might ask what my party would do differently if we were in his shoes. I will tell him. We would increase the capital budget. It is still 24% below 2008 levels. A new housing agency would be established that would run efficiently and make clear decisions. We would use NAMA and bank share proceeds to invest in social housing. We would look at the possibility of loans from credit unions. The issue of credit unions and so on must be addressed because there is an issue with mortgages. The Minister has brought in a new mortgage for first-time buyers. I do not have time to go through that with him but the people who need to qualify for that are not qualifying. There are so many restrictions attached to this new mortgage that most people are not qualifying for it.