Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will make a few very practical points. To be clear, a number of people raised whether such houses could be purchased privately but that is not necessarily the concern I spoke about. My concern reflects some of the concern from Senator Warfield and others that we are talking about an open market dwelling without a ceiling. That is the concern. It is not an open market dwelling up to a certain amount; instead it is infinite in its amount. Therefore, I reserve the right to introduce an amendment to put a ceiling on the amount that could be spent on an open market dwelling and I hope that is something the Government will consider.

It is important when we talk to note that the concern is the market. We talk about being in the real world, so let us be in the real world. When we are in the real world in the context of the market, let us acknowledge that market logics have their role but must also be tempered. To be very clear, market logics are not about getting things out as quickly and affordably as possible in many cases. This cannot be so when we hear, as we always do, about planning permission. The strategic housing developments, SHDs, are in place since 2016 so we are not talking about the last year where the pandemic affected building. We are talking about the last five years. We are talking about fast-track projects that have planning permission and are not waiting for it. Therefore, it is not the magic bullet we hear about. These developments have not been built because it is strategically advantageous to delay the building of these large housing estates that have benefited from fast-track planning. As we have seen, the market logic is often to delay that construction. That is why just over 30% of those who received the fast-track planning permission have commenced them. The others are sitting on them. This is despite all the lectures we received from the then Minister with responsibility for housing about how SHDs were going to be an instant supply hit five years ago. We have seen price-fixing on rental apartments because it suits them to keep a third of them off the market and the price to be higher.

The fact is that the market will do things the market wants to do - that is its nature. It is fine because the primary fiduciary duty of many people in investment funds, etc., is to maximise their return. That is fine, but we must be clear that the State's job is not simply to regard itself as sitting inside that market. When we talk about the real world, we must be clear that the market sits inside the State. It is not the real world to have prices like we have in Ireland. There is a reason they are much higher here than in other European countries. It is not the weather. It is the kinds of provisions that we have around how housing is built and provided. I am concerned that many of the measures in this Bill place the role of the State inside a market which does as it will. I agree with Senator Fitzpatrick that the State must take the lead. The State should sit outside the market, in effect, and set its parameters. That is my concern because I do not see the ceiling being applied. I do not see the conditionalities being strong enough.

On Part 5, which we will come to later, I am very concerned because when we give planning permission the State has a right to set conditions not just about who might be allowed to buy but also in relation to the prices. It should not top it up. We do not have to bridge the gap between what the market would like and what the people need. We may do some of that but we can also set rules for the market, so we are squeezing from two sides. Yes, we are bridging gaps between the need of people for homes and the market but the space we are bridging cannot be infinite. We must also be applying pressure downward on the market. Narrowing that gap is a two-way piece. That is the concern here. My concern is not necessarily with the purchase itself. As I have said, there are circumstances, usually exceptional, in which local authorities have purchased houses for social housing or affordable housing. My concern is the lack of a ceiling on that. It is a reasonable point. We must also put a downward brake on what the market is asking from the State or from anybody for some of these properties.That is why I will bring forward an amendment on Report Stage to provide a ceiling in respect of the amount that can be paid for an open market dwelling in the context of affordable housing.