Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise two issues with the Leader this morning, one being Operation Freeflow. Traffic congestion has become a genuine issue since the recovery, bearing in mind the number of people who have returned to work and the way in which our city centres, in Dublin, Limerick and Cork, have become extremely busy. Peter Horgan has been raising this issue in Cork for a long time. What I propose was not practical when Templemore Garda College was closed by the previous Government. It has reopened, however, so there is an opportunity to use the trainee gardaí to keep our bus corridors free. The initiative needs to be much bigger, however. There has to be a joined-up plan to suspend non-essential road works during busy periods and to provide temporary park-and-ride facilities that encourage people not to use their private cars and instead use public transport to go to our commercial centres. I would very much like the Leader to raise this issue with the relevant Ministers. It covers the Departments responsible for both justice and transport. I would very much appreciate it if the Leader raised this with them as soon as possible.

The other issue is much more important. It concerns our response to the housing crisis. There is a lack of long-term planning. In our speedy reaction, allowing private developers to respond, we will create another crisis. In the centre of Dublin, in particular, large institutional investors are buying up the available properties. An article in The Irish Timestoday referred to a development of approximately 170 homes in Rathgar. They are to be purchased by institutional landlords to rent. There is a role for the rental market but there is also a need for supply to allow people to purchase a home. Supply is drying up because of institutional investors. There is no opportunity for people to buy and this will lead to long-term problems. There will be a reduction in supply for purchasers. Our pensions system operates on the basis that people will have finished paying their mortgages at the age of 65 or 66. If the Government has decided to move the vast majority of people into rental accommodation, not out of choice but out of necessity, it will have long-term implications for those concerned when they reach pensionable age, at which time their income will be reduced. They will be unable to pay the high rents sought by institutional investors. We need rent for life, not for profit. We are very much seeing rent for profit now. It is an ideological problem because the Government is wedded to the idea of private development. We need to get away from this. We need a long-term solution, and the State can play a much greater role. We are driving young people out of our city centres with the policies the Government is unfortunately pursuing.It is supporting landlords and not young couples and families who want to purchase homes of their own.