Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I strongly support my colleague, Senator Fitzpatrick's, amendment. It is good to see widespread support for it in the House. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, are adamant, and we know it from what the Minister has said to us, that they will do everything that can be done to solve this housing crisis. I will repeat what I said recently in the House. None of us, regardless of what side we are on, deserves to be a Member of the Oireachtas if we cannot solve the housing issue. At the same time, however, we must acknowledge what Senators Casey, Higgins and others said with regard to the national planning framework. There must be changes in that if this is to work.

Sometimes people say housing is not an issue in some parts of the country. It is an issue everywhere. I have never seen as many renters who are nervous. They are not nervous because the landlord or landlady is saying the renter must be out in X number of months. They are just fearful of the property being sold. Despite the support of the State whereby people cannot be pushed out onto the road willy-nilly, they are still nervous. Incidentally, I note that in my part of the country, such as Longford, Roscommon, Galway and other counties, rent is costing €300 and €400 more per month than an average mortgage would cost, so people owning their houses makes perfect sense and we must move towards that. I met two couples, one in my county and one in Ballinasloe in Galway. The people in Ballinasloe are paying €1,300 rent per month. That might be hard to believe for a town in the west of Ireland. The people in my county were paying €1,100 per month. In both cases, if we had proper housing legislation in place, they could have a mortgage at €700 or €800 per month, or less.

This is a crucial time for housing. I strongly believe the Government is moving in the right direction. There has been a good debate here today. That is very important. We might have differences in opinions, but this is a good debate on housing. Senators Pauline O'Reilly, Casey and Fitzpatrick spoke strongly. If we do not deliver, it is no use. However, there is a determination to deliver and I hope we can make it work.