Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will speak in favour of these amendments. They get to the crux of the issue about what the Affordable Housing Bill lacks, which is the definition of "affordability" as linked to income. Throughout the Bill, reference is made to affordability being below market value. As Senator Boyhan has said, if a person is living in a place such as Dún Laoghaire and is earning a median wage of €40,000 or €50,000, below market value is not going to get that person one of the affordable units.

I have tabled a number of amendments to the Bill, some of which are clunky. I had a difficulty in coming up with the wording, on a legislative basis, to link affordability to CSO figures or to median values, or even that units be made available at cost. Senator Higgins's amendment in this regard is very good and I ask that the Government would take it on board. The Senator has allowed for the criteria to be set down by regulations and to be changed, with some flexibility added in.

In the next few years we might - I do not believe we will - have housing made available at somewhat affordable rates. We can see, however, what has happened with Part V, whereby Johnny Ronan calls €600,000 as one of his affordable housing units. We can see, therefore, that if we adopt the Affordable Housing Bill at this stage, which simply links affordability to below market value, then over time this provision in the Bill could be undermined. Inflation or other additional elements could also be taken into the costs. It is very important, in the context of State intervention, affordable housing, and the use of State-owned land, that there is a clear link between the median income of workers of this country and what is being provided to them. I ask that we take these amendments on board and at least work through a form of definition that is a workable definition of affordability linked to income.