Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Michael D'Arcy. I acknowledge that this is a progressive budget and that it seeks stability and the sustainability of the public finances, which is to be welcomed. Nobody needs to hear that the next general election, whether it is held in a few weeks' time or the spring, is coming our way. The issues about which people are most exercised are housing, health and education.

I acknowledge the Government's allocation of a total of €2.3 billion for the housing programme in 2019. Up to €1.25 billion is to be allocated for the delivery of 10,000 new social homes through a combination of construction, acquisition and leasing. It is disappointing that we continue to top up the private sector disproportionately. I have no problem with supporting that sector, but I am interested in building new homes, regardless of who builds them. Given that there is a substantial number of landbanks owned by the local authorities, it is questionable that we are not directing finances directly to local authorities to build houses. It is the local authorities that are best placed to build them as they have the knowledge of the needs of local communities.

I acknowledge and welcome the extra €121 million to be provided for the housing assistance payment, HAP, scheme to provide for an additional 16,760 new tenancies next year. However, the level of mortgage interest relief for landlords will be raised to 100%. I do not believe in giving additional mortgage interest relief to landlords who refuse to accept HAP tenants. There should be a connection between the HAP scheme and mortgage interest relief. We have a problem when landlords do not accept HAP tenants. Why, therefore, should we be facilitating them with a 100% mortgage interest relief rate? Will the Minister of State feed this into ongoing considerations? While nothing will change at this stage, it is important to acknowledge this.

I acknowledge the extra €30 million to be allocated for homelessness services. Ideally, we want to put the focus on getting people into permanent homes. The increase in the allocation for the serviced site fund to support local authorities in bringing forward lands for subsidised and more affordable housing schemes is to be welcomed. It is planned that the funding will be increased by €20 million to €89 million, thus facilitating the delivery of around 6,000 affordable homes over the lifetime of the fund of three years.

There has been much excitement and talk about the Land Development Agency, but we have yet to see the legislation that will underpin it. Until such time as we see it, we do not know what funding will be necessary to get the organisation up and running. One has to question the difference with NAMA's role, functions, remit, landbanks and assets and how it will dovetail with the Land Development Agency. Is it just another fancy word for the same agency?We need to look at it but that is for another day.

We must put all of this housing related funding into context because at the end of the day, it means nothing to the people out there. Today there are 10,000 people, including 3,600 children, who are homeless or living in unsuitable accommodation such as hotels, bed and breakfast accommodation and emergency accommodation. We all know the Minister who stood up in the House and said that within six months there would be nobody living in hotels. What is the story? Statistics and numbers mean nothing unless we see action. We know that there are 10,000 people living in unsuitable, emergency accommodation. We also know that there are 85,000 households on social housing waiting lists across 31 local authorities and 30,000 people in receipt of the housing assistance payment, HAP. There are 70,000 home mortgages in arrears, 13,000 of which have been in arrears for more than five years. At the same time, we have State-owned landbanks, which once again relates to the issue of where we are directing the funding. There is a massive serviced site out in Thornton Hall and another substantial site at Shanganagh Castle. Approximately 26 acres will be available at the site of the Central Mental Hospital in Dundrum in eight or nine months. I know from my work on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government that there are over 300,000 ha. of State-owned lands which are ready to go but we are not seeing housing developments on those lands.

I wish to turn to health. I welcome the increase of €1.5 billion in health funding for 2019, bringing our overall health budget to €17 billion but we need an emphasis on value for money. Tomorrow we will be discussing the HSE in this House. What about value for money and accountability for how that money is used? What about how it impacts on the thousands of people who are waiting for essential hospital treatment? I welcome the €84 million for mental health services and I particularly welcome the increase of €20 million for the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF. I was a director of that organisation and am very familiar with its good work and its ability to deal with the longest waiters. This Administration had sought to wind down the NTPF so the additional funding represents a U-turn, which is welcome.

I wish to refer to bed closures at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire, which I have been championing for the past two years. I ask the Minister of State to commit today to asking the Minister for Health and the Minister for Finance to confirm when we will have the 12 beds that were closed in 2017 at the aforementioned hospital reopened. When will the children's ward of six beds that was closed in August be reopened? When will the consultant who ceased working there in August be replaced? I have continuously met with opposition every time I have asked about this. I have only two questions for the Minister of State today. Is there provision in the budget to get the 12 beds reopened so that the hundreds of people lying in acute hospital beds around the country can move to the National Rehabilitation Hospital? When will the paediatric consultant post be funded at the hospital?

These are the simple things that matter. Tonight people want to know what their chances are of buying or renting a home. Tonight they are worried about whether they will be able to have their cataracts removed or whether they will have to wait for another two years for health services. These are the things that matter to people. The job of balancing the books is a difficult one and I have acknowledged the Government's commitment to managing the public finances. This budget is a progressive one but it is the little things that matter. I ask the Minister of State to come back to me on the question of the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire.