Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I understand. I want to pass on my deepest sympathies to Senator Keogan on the passing of her mother as I know that is not easy.

I will get back to the Senator on her specific query. We have done a review of the tenant purchase scheme and it is due to be published quite soon, in the coming weeks, although we are looking at some anomalies around that. I am conscious as well that as we are trying to build up our public housing stock, we want to make sure we are building it up, not selling it out the other side, so there is a balance and a bit of fairness needed.

I thank all Senators for their contributions, from Senator Fitzpatrick right the way through every side of the House. I have taken notes and I will try to deal with some of the questions now, and for those I do not get to, I will respond to the Senators in writing.

I want to make a couple of general points on affordability. As Senator Boyhan mentioned, the affordable housing Bill is going to the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage for pre-legislative scrutiny in the next couple of weeks. I have been interested to note the response in some quarters. I respect Senator Moynihan reserving judgment on it until she sees it, and people are fully entitled to their views. I have been an absolute advocate of home ownership. I believe in it. I believe that if renters are surveyed, the preferred form of tenure for the vast majority of people who are renting at the moment is home ownership, if we can do it on an affordable basis, which we can, and also provide affordable rental, which we are going to do this year as part of the Bill. That Bill deals with three issues, namely, affordable purchase, affordable homes on State-owned land and affordable rental. It will also deal with how we can change the serviced sites fund to make that work better, and with shared equity.

Shared equity has worked. Some are vociferously opposing it already, and nearly foaming at the mouth in their opposition to it, and maybe it is the case that they do not want it to work. They should wait until they see the scheme before they decide to shoot it down in flames. Maybe they should just have a look at it, like, in fairness, Senator Moynihan has said she will do. People do not have to agree with everything, and not everyone has all the solutions, but they should have a look at it first and they can talk to their colleagues in the Dáil about it as well.

A couple of very important matters have been raised today. Tenancy protections are crucially important. I will do more if we need to do more. We have the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act 2020 in place, so protections are in place right the way through to April.We introduced strong anti-eviction measures in respect of rent arrears by means of the Act. The RTB has been properly resourced through the budget with additional inspectors to carry out investigations as necessary.

People have stated that a number of eviction notices or notices to quit were sent post the first blanket ban. However, those were eviction notices and nothing was mentioned about their execution. I read the article, into which we actually fed. Many of the people who were issued eviction notices sought protection under the Residential Tenancies and Valuation Act 2020. In fact, the number was nearly identical. We cannot stop a landlord issuing a notice. Some notices could be spurious. Where they are, I have asked people to bring them to my attention. We received notification of some illegal attempts, but we stamped that out. It cannot happen. Thankfully, only 2% of tenancies end in dispute. Let us remember that when we discuss this matter. That 2% is 2% too many, but it means that 98% of tenancies are operating fine and the system works well. Still, we need to provide protections. If I need to introduce further protections, including through this House, I will do so.

Regarding Safetynet, I know Dr. Fiona O'Reilly and engage with her regularly. Like many other bodies, Safetynet provides a brilliant service in difficult times and I am doing what I can to assist it. Many Senators have mentioned the local connection issue. I have made it abundantly clear that local connection is no barrier to accessing emergency accommodation. When the "RTÉ Investigates" programme came out, I was clear in apologising for what happened to the two gentlemen. To be fair, though, it occurred on two days, with one occurring one day after the new process came into effect. We have managed the process since. Where anomalies or something else arises, I will deal with it. I am generally contacted directly. I ask Senators to do that. Last week, a Deputy told the Dáil that these issues were happening wholesale. I asked whether the Deputy had provided us any detail or contacted the Department and how many cases were involved, but there had been no contact. If there are issues, let us work with one another and address them. We must ensure that is done. Driving down homelessness needs to be the priority across the board.

I will back in the Seanad to discuss homeless services provision, including emergency homeless services, again. That will be useful. We have covered a great deal in this debate, including affordability and homelessness. My Department and the Department of Health are working together now. That is a part of the programme for Government. For example, I chaired the homelessness task force this morning, which the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, attended. I had a bilateral meeting with the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly, recently. All of this is being done to ensure that health supports are in place, particularly in terms of addiction and mental health, and our teams are working together. I saw how well a multi-agency approach worked in Waterford. It works. I also chair a regional drugs and alcohol task force, and I have seen from my area how that approach can work well. This is a Covid development that we will not lose, given the health benefits to people. It is nearly ironic in one respect that, with homeless people having to be shielded through the Covid pandemic, they are coming out of homeless services in better nick than when they went in. That is because all of these health supports are available to them.

I intend to put together another voids programme this year, given that the impact of the construction sector's closure is approximately 800 homes per week, public and private. That is the best estimate we have. We are effectively talking about 6,500 to 7,000 homes this year.

I will use this opportunity to comment on the construction sector. It has proven itself safe in its operation, including on residential sites. The Government's decision to shut it down was not taken easily and was not a reflection on the sector's work. Speaking as the Minister with responsibility for housing, the provision of homes, both public and private, is an essential service. Indeed, it is deemed essential under level 5 restrictions.I hope, and am confident, that the sector will be fully open again on 5 March because it has been able to manage safety with new processes and procedures. One of the jobs in construction is managing risk and those involved manage it very well. An unprecedented decision was taken to reduce the movement of people. That is what it was for. Will it have an impact on our delivery? Yes, unfortunately it will. Will we endeavour to make up that time? Yes, we will do that also, by looking at other measures and elements that we can move forward with. The Government has given specific exemptions around social housing. There are issues with people with mortgage approvals on which I am engaging with the Minister for Finance as well, and some people who were very close to moving in to their own homes, literally within a matter of a few days. A practical approach is being taken to some people with health exemptions as well.

A Senator referred to an individual case where housing adaptations were being made for a child with special needs. That should be covered under the exemptions. Certain jobs, including utility works, can also continue. My goal is to get the sector back open on 5 March. We are working through this to see what we can do to refocus the work we are doing directly on homelessness.

I will make a couple of quick points on the European Regional Development Fund, ERDF, announcements within the next four or five weeks. That is important by way of urban regeneration across this country. It can be a significant boost for the country when we need it and will focus on some important projects.

The national retrofit scheme was raised. This is relevant to the maintenance of social housing stock. I have a submission to look at it. I am also considering the failure of a number of local authorities to use previous grants for the past two or three years. That bothered me a lot. Taxpayers have provided significant funds to retrofit and renovate homes and local authorities applied for money but did not draw any of it down. Basically, they did not do the work. I am reworking the scheme slightly to make sure that nobody is going to be penalised for that, but in future if local authorities get money to maintain and improve homes, they will have to use it. I was not prepared to sign off the scheme and move it on until some of those issues were addressed.

With your indulgence, a Leas-Chathaoirligh, a number of Senators have been good enough to stay for the duration of the debate to ask very good questions and make valid and appropriate points. I have taken notes and my team will have been looking in on the debate. We will respond as best we can to any of the queries or questions that I have not reached.

One final point is that the Land Development Agency Bill should be published either on Friday this week or potentially next Monday, as there was an issue with drafting. It is nearly there. The affordable housing Bill will be going for pre-legislative scrutiny. I am always very happy to initiate legislation in the Seanad, where I can. I have done so already and I will continue to do so.