Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan. I compliment him and his colleagues, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, for all their work on this Housing for All policy. Before I go any further, I will comment on Senator Fitzpatrick’s contribution. I think she talked about a "lost decade". I entered the other House in 2011. When we were talking about housing then, it was in the context of developers having gone bust, ghost estates, negative equity and, of course, the overarching matter of the International Monetary Fund overlords being in the country. The result was that we had to do many things before we were able to get to building houses in those years.By 2040, an additional 1 million people are expected to live in this country. That might seem a long way away today but it will come very first. The demand for housing will be with us throughout that period. We talk about the potential benefits of remote working, how it could be a game changer and how it could allow those who work in offices not to be tied to an office. Thousands upon thousands of people do not work in offices. Some work in the trades or are drivers or self-employed. Others run small businesses or work in retail across the country. Remote working will take pressure off some of our cities, such as Dublin, and that is good for people in those areas as it may make more accommodation available for them. That is important.

We need to supply all types of housing. I do not subscribe to the view that either the private market alone or the public sector alone should provide housing; we need all types of housing. We need private, public and affordable housing and we need sheltered housing for the elderly and housing provided by approved housing bodies. Each home built is a plus. Each home will allow a family to leave their parents' house, to move out of rented accommodation or to move from a smaller house or apartment to another house, freeing up that smaller unit for somebody else.

When I initially looked at the Housing for All policy, I went to the sections on the supply of housing. That is the most crucial issue. Supply is key and you start with zoned land. I was a councillor when the Celtic tiger was at its height and directors of service valiantly tried to stop the excessive rezoning in town plans and so on in Galway. We have gone from that extreme, where we may have been zoning too much, to a situation in which local authorities decide, based on national policy, that the need for a given number of houses translates to a given number of hectares zoned. They may give a little bit of leeway but that is it. That does not take account of the fact that, in some cases, the land that is zoned, even though it might be very central, might just be farmed by a family or owned by an elderly bachelor, meaning that it is not available to the market. The situation is the same in respect of serviced land. If there is serviced land that does not come on the market, that investment is foregone, certainly in the short term. The concept of "use it or lose it" is important in that regard.

Planning permission has been talked about but, on the serviced lands issue, I will comment on wastewater. Over successive governments, there has been a good deal of positive developments in respect of wastewater treatment plants in my own area. I refer to the plants at Clifden, Oughterard, Claregalway, Milltown, Headford and Clonbur. Work is also starting in An Spidéal and there is a compulsory purchase order under way in Roundstone. There are positive developments but there are other areas, such as Carna and Cill Chiaráin, in which there is a demand for housing, including social housing, but where there are no wastewater treatment plants. Land is relatively cheap in these areas when compared with areas closer to Galway city and that presents an opportunity. Assisting Irish Water, which has done a lot of work on pollution issues targeted by the Environmental Protection Agency, is important. Additional investment is needed in that regard.

There are mixed views on judicial reviews in the planning process but I believe they have been an impediment. Believe it or believe it not, there are votes to be got by objecting to housing. That is what I see. I see it all over the place. There are people objecting to social housing, to private housing and to student accommodation. I have never objected to anything in my life. I want to put that on the record. I hope to continue in that vein but that is what is happening up and down our country. There are people who genuinely object because there may not be enough amenities in a town, for example. In many cases, these issues are valid.

I welcome the initiative in respect of affordable housing. It is not good for families or for society that due to financial pressure and the cost of housing, people have been excluded from owning their own homes. That is absolutely positive and I welcome that initiative.

Overall, as a member of a Government party, I hope this policy will work for people across our country, in our cities, in our county towns and in areas in rural Ireland. We should not forget the importance of being able to build in your own local community, subject to all the different regulations relating to housing need and the treatment of effluent. Those regulations are important but people should have the right to live in rural areas. That will be an important component in solving the housing crisis.