Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank my colleagues across the floor for raising the important issue of housing. I feel that the body of the motion goes to show just how flawed their policy is. There seems to be a paralysis relating to rent when the difficulties in the housing sector are much wider than that. The motion also goes to show the differences in policy. From Fianna Fáil's perspective, the people of this country absolutely deserve to be afforded the opportunity to own their homes. That is one of our key policy platforms. A real difference in policy exists. The Government parties have been working urgently and diligently to resolve the issues being discussed here. The affordability and supply of housing are the key issues and wide-ranging measures have already been taken to make homes more affordable and accessible, ensuring that those in need can get effective and affordable housing. The Government has provided rental support through rent caps and pressure zones and has taken a proactive approach to housing, specifically in the context of protections for renters through the ban on evictions. That decision put the safety of tenants first in these uncertain and unprecedented times. I welcome the extension of that ban on evictions into the summer months because Covid-19 is not yet a thing of the past, as we all know. With that in mind, we must be aware and conscious of legal challenges and issues that may arise from more radical measures than those already implemented.

Work to build new housing and to renovate and make existing properties available to the market has been substantially hampered. For existing tenants, strong protections are in place and enforced through the RTB. The Government is committed to further improving these tenancy protections, if and when they are needed. It is crucial to resolve disputes between landlords and tenants and ensure fair and equitable treatment, as outlined in the programme for Government. However, the provision of housing does not end with rental properties. The programme for Government contains ambitious plans to construct housing through local authorities, approved housing bodies and State agencies.The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage's Land Development Agency Bill 2021 is being examined by the Dáil. The Bill aims to increase the amount of public land available to build new housing to alleviate concerns about housing provision. I refute some of the suggestions made earlier that it would take powers away from councillors. It will do nothing of the sort. It will only do so in larger towns and where councillors are not doing their jobs. If councillors vote to build on these lands, they will have nothing to fear from the LDA. That point needs to be made strongly because people do not seem to be getting it.

Housing quality has not been a given in the past. I am well aware of the problem of unsuitable housing. In my own county of Donegal, a Government grant scheme, expected to cost hundreds of millions of euro at least, has been introduced to rebuild houses affected by mica defective concrete blocks. In February, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and his colleagues also established the independent working group to examine the issue of defective housing and work is under way to address the issue.

The Government has remained fully committed to housing as a priority and great steps have been taken in the right direction to ensure that housing is being provided according to the needs of renters, buyers and existing home owners. Progress will continue to be made with sustainability, legality, ownership issues and affordability in mind.

In the short time those three Ministers have been in the Department, they have made great strides. There is an awful fear that it may work for them and hence there has been a lot of hot air. I look forward to the developments on housing in the Department over the next couple of years.