Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister can do the research. It caused certain ructions in the community. It was on the basis that there were no private houses coming forward. A number of private applications that have been granted in my community have not progressed. Planning permission has been granted but for whatever reason, they have not progressed. There are developers running back to the local authority to see whether they can get turnkey development, which in my mind means that there is an issue with equity. There is an issue with developers having the wherewithal to build private houses. As I said, there needs to be that mix of housing. It is desirable for people to own their own home. Most of us wish that everyone would be able to aspire to owning their own home. Indeed the beauty of the tenant purchase model was that the aspiration was there for people who started off renting a home to purchase it in the future. This is right and proper. It gives people a real stake in their community. That is what people want. That is what we all want.

The issue of equity is real. I am talking about developers having the equity to build houses. If we are to make progress in the short-term, we need to see why those planning applications that are live - those that have been granted in the past year or two - are not moving and what we can do to get them to move. It involves carrot and stick because those are the ones that are the quickest to build. We can talk about sites being zoned and the LDA but how do we get building on those sites that have planning permission? What are the stumbling blocks and issues that mean those developments do not progress because those are the ones where people will put down deposits and purchase next year, the following year and the year after that? This is the reality. The quickest fix will come from those with planning permission.

The affordable element is hugely important. As long as the increase in the percentage of social and affordable housing to 20% is funded and is not a deterrent to the same developers pushing forward, it will be important and I welcome it. However, we must ensure that it is not a further deterrent. We amended that previously to encourage some development and provide houses and jobs because nothing was happening. We need to ensure the increase does not act as a deterrent.

I welcome the Bill. I encourage the Minister to engage with developers, large and small, to discover why planning applications are not moving, developments are not being built and homes are not available in the private market and under Part V for social housing, particularly with the increase proposed in this Bill for affordable housing. I look forward to further engagement. I spoke on the Order of Business regarding the planning process, which is part of the Minister's brief. Many projects, not just related to housing are being stymied. These projects will take a significant number of years for any progress to be made even though funding has been announced. It is something that we have to look at.