Seanad debates

Thursday, 26 September 2019

10:30 am

Photo of Gerard CraughwellGerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that. Let us talk about housing and the gross inequality that exists in this country. A couple of weeks ago, we saw an article in The Irish Timesabout a house in Foxrock bought for €2.4 million where the purchasers have sought permission to demolish it and rebuild a five-bedroomed house on the site. This is what is going on among the wealthy in this country. They can afford to lash out €2.4 million for a house. I know the house well because it was my brother's, who is sadly deceased. I know the house and I know the love and care that went into developing and building it. To think it will be razed to the ground to build another house just to get one extra bedroom is beyond me.

Let us look at the situation with young couples. I know a young couple who have spent €97,000 over seven years on rent. Where are they to find a deposit? Where are they to manage to put aside a few bob to build or purchase a house? My colleague spoke about the policy being Dublin-centric. The truth of the matter is that a massive number of young people in this town are working and living in the most appalling conditions because they simply cannot afford the rent and will never be able to buy a house.I went through the income and wider finances of the young couple I speak of, and they could well afford a two-bedroom or even three-bedroom apartment in some parts of Dublin at a smaller cost than their current rent. There is something terribly wrong when we are enhancing private ownership at the cost of ordinary working people. We must find a way, even if it means the State should come up with an idea like providing a deposit so a young couple could repay that deposit to the State and their mortgage at the same time. It would at least get them out of a rented apartment and make that property available.

I raised with the Minister of State with responsibility for Defence the number of married quarters in the likes of Cathal Brugha Barracks and the Curragh that could be brought back into use. I advised at the time that Cluid would be willing to refurbish the properties and put families into them, thereby releasing properties in places like Dublin, Cork and the Curragh. I am not sure about Limerick, Kilkenny or Donegal. There are properties that could be refurbished and brought back into service. It has not happened because there is a cross-departmental problem. The Minister of State cannot do anything about the Department of Defence, and that Department has a policy position that it will not have married quarters. A housing agency is willing to take these off the State's hands - it could sell them to the agency for €1 - and it could refurbish the properties. That agency could return the houses to soldiers.

I refer to teachers, nurses and gardaí. I was a soldier and my wife was a nurse when we got married, and we had not tuppence to rub together. We were able to buy a house by means of a mortgage nonetheless. It is just not possible for young professional people to do it now. The Minister of State has referred to the mix of social, affordable and private dwellings. I grew up in Galway city and there we had Shantalla, Bohermore and Mervue as local authority areas. The finest of people grew up in those places and they qualified as the likes of craftsmen, fitters, mechanics, teachers or doctors. They have fought hard to buy those properties and remain in the communities in which they grew up. There is absolutely no sense in what goes on in parts of Dublin, where one house was sold for €500,000 to accommodate one family in order to ensure a mix of social and affordable housing in what was a private estate. That is beyond belief.

I do not get involved with local politics so I only know what people tell me. I do not hold clinics or anything like that. A neighbour told me she is renting a house in Sandyford that is subsidised by the local authority but the cost is €1,700. It was a local authority house and was sold for €72,000 or €73,000 to the original renters and subsequently sold for more than €300,000 before being bought for close to €600,000. How have we allowed this to happen? I am not saying it is this Government's fault as it inherited much of this problem. Do not think for one minute I am blaming Fine Gael, the Labour Party or anybody else. I am talking about a system that has been allowed to develop. We must go back to the drawing board and somebody must take control of the people who make these provisions or advise Ministers on policy changes. There is no reason we cannot have local authority areas, provided we are willing to put in the required services.

I remember my father, God be good to him, telling me about when they built the Shantalla estate. If a piece of timber arrived on the site with a knot in it, the clerk of works sent it back. They were the finest-built houses in Galway at the time and the same was true of Mervue. I have first-hand knowledge of people in Moyross and Southill in Limerick, which are great communities that have been destroyed by a few thugs. That was a policing rather than a housing issue. The issues that have led to this desire for a mix of social and affordable housing mean it is not necessarily being driven for the benefit of families. Social housing systems broke down because we did not police them properly. Moyross is a classic case in point and I know the Minister of State has been there. There was no shop within walking distance of Moyross when it was built. It was a massive site but there were no supports. From that perspective, it was a disgrace.

I visited Dresden recently with the German chamber of commerce. I was absolutely amazed by the housing co-operative system they have in place. When East Germany joined West Germany, there was a horrendous housing crisis in Dresden and they started the co-operative. I invite the Minister of State to look at it. It is now a housing and farming co-operative and it builds roads; it is an amazing system. A member of the co-operative pays the monthly rent but ultimately, he or she can pass on the property. It gives the best of both worlds. The people with me in Dresden were bankers and the first thing they said at the briefing was that the model would work in Ireland. If I had a site in the morning, I have an architect but I would need a builder. I would not want to make money from it but-----

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