Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Civil Engagement Group for its motion, all the Senators who spoke on the motion and those in the Gallery for listening to the debate.

In the first instance, I will outline where I am coming from in the debate. It is as someone who holds a weekly clinic in my home town of Mullingar and hears every week from many vulnerable people who are looking for sustainable housing solutions and are facing huge pressure from ever-increasing rents and the threat of rent increases. We are trying to combat that. I hear what is said sometimes about where the State is coming from. Incendiary language is often used when referring to the private sector, developers and vulture funds. I come from a working class background. I am a father of two children and a husband who is trying to better my community in every way I can.

When we point out these vulnerable cases, it is also incumbent on us as public representatives to offer hope, point to the metrics that show 31,000 commencements have been issued and reflect to people what that means. Right now, in 31,000 sites we have bulldozers and labourers with skill sets working to deliver those homes on the ground. There has been a 42% increase in output since 2020. Those homes will be a solution for many people. That is how we must focus on meeting the ESRI requirement to exceed 33,000 houses per annum in the economy.

We can all allude to our own version of events. It is very frustrating that in the past decade, the country was on a very difficult path. Ten years ago, the State had no capacity to borrow money. We had 3,000 ghost estates around the country and our 31 local authorities were saturated in debt. The mortgage-to-rent scheme was piloted in Dublin and in my county, Westmeath, because affordable housing had failed at that juncture as the loans could not be repaid. Two thirds of the construction workforce had left the country. Each year subsequent to that, when the State had no capacity to deliver housing for citizens who so badly needed it, demand increased. Sometimes the narrative is framed in such a way as to suggest the State stood idly by and watched demand increase. The problem was it did not have the capacity to respond at the point it most needed to respond.

For these reasons, the Government has now committed €4 billion in multi-annual funding through Housing for All. That is reflected on the ground by the metrics I pointed out. This will mean that right across all arms of the State, there will be a tenfold increase in the output of social housing from 2026. It will also mean we will have more affordable and cost-rental housing. Rents in the cost-rental projects that are being delivered this year are, on average, 40% to 50% below market rents. That is a viable, sustainable housing solution for families who badly need it.

We must also ensure the private sector keeps providing more homes. This is a societal issue rather than an issue for only one part of society. There are many sections of society that badly need housing. We need strong, sustainable output to ensure people's aspiration to get the keys to their own home can be realised. That is the first message I want to get across to everyone in the Seanad this afternoon. There is hope and there is evidence that housing output is increasing rapidly.

Many speakers drew attention to the frustration that has built up in people at how the State did not take action in the past. The State is now taking a number of actions, including to address land hoarding and vacant and derelict properties. In the first instance, we have the zoned land tax, and the mapping procedures are now being carried out for that across the State. It is saying to developers that if they have zoned land and are sitting idly in the hope that the value of their land will continue to increase at the expense of society at large and those who badly need a home, the State will now intervene and tax them unless they apply to de-zone the land.

Second, we are looking at capturing land value sharing, which will focus on the ever-increasing number of individuals not turning zoned land into housing units. They will now have to share the uplift in the value of the land with the State and put in vital public infrastructure that is absent in so many locations around the country. We have worked so hard as a society to get to a plan-led system whereby we have key infrastructure provided in response to plans setting out where housing should be developed. A decade ago, we had enough land zoned in this country to accommodate the population growing by an extra 10 million people. How could the State predict where the houses were going to be built?Essentially, the State does not have a bottomless pit of money to put into infrastructure such as wastewater infrastructure in all areas where land is zoned. However, now we are in a position where we have zoned land that is in line with the national planning framework, it is based on population trajectories in line with the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, and the State can now go after this land and put the infrastructure in to ensure that people have a viable chance of delivering housing solutions on that land.

In regard to the Constitution, that is a very well made point in terms of the commission on housing, on which a chairperson has now been installed to make a determination and adjudicate on what way property rights should be reflected in our Constitution. That is important to many people. That work is continuing at pace. Across the 31 local authorities vacancy and dereliction are huge issues. By quarter 2 of this year we aim to have a full-time vacant homes officer in every local authority. We have increased the funding by 20%. The problem heretofore had been that across the local authority network there were just three of the 31 local authorities that had a full-time vacant homes officer. In quarter 2 of this year we will be in a position whereby every local authority will have one.

Funding streams such as the urban regeneration and development fund, the rural regeneration and development fund, Croí Cónaithe towns and villages scheme when the regulations are through this year, the repair and leasing scheme, and the buy and renew scheme, will wrap around to deliver key derelict sites back into use. That is important to us as a State. On many occasions it has been termed the low hanging fruit that we have to get to grips with. I believe we have the right suite of measures to do that. The Towns First initiative which was launched a number of weeks ago has 33 actions and 12 case studies looking at unlocking the potential of derelict property.

One issue I wish to speak about which is very close to my heart is Traveller accommodation. This is an issue I have taken on as best I can to try and resolve. Some Members alluded to this, such as Senator Boyhan regarding Cork, and Senator Flynn. I have a situation now whereby bi-weekly meetings are held, managing that issue in Cork. I was in Cork and visited every family on the site. We now have what is hopefully a sustainable solution for that area. I met with the rights commissioner and the children's ombudsman. I engaged with all the groups trying to implement our expert report whereby we have 32 recommendations. I sit in on as many of the meetings as I can to ensure that we are continuing at pace to implement those recommendations. Shortly we will publish them all on our website, in regard to the pathway and at what stage each one of those is. It is important to have 100% transparency on this issue and that any blockages are there for all to see. We work very hard. I have met many Opposition parties in this regard and I know the Oireachtas is united in trying to unlock this problem. We have to ensure that units are being delivered on the ground. For the second year running we have spent and committed our full budget. That is welcome.

In the first year Covid-19 was one of the key causes of this problem, which is why this year I have been engaging strongly with all the chief executives throughout the country to ensure that the budget was spent. Delivering on that sends out a very strong signal. Also in regard to Traveller accommodation I have made it clear to all the areas that my door is always open if there are any issues that specifically relate to sites. We had about 200 audits throughout the country on sites that we have responded to, and we have put in remedial works in some. We have increased the caretaker allowance. We have the caravan loan scheme. I have met some of the groups. There are issues relating to insurance that we are trying to work out. I spoke to the rights commissioner about that in terms of equal access for every individual within the State. We are working hard through all those schemes to try and alleviate them.

I also want to point to some progress. As I pointed out how many commencement notices are issued, we have also seen a 33% reduction in Dublin city's social housing list over the past four years. That is progress. Those families now have a sustainable solution. I feel for so many people. As a dad at Christmas time it really hits one that people are in emergency accommodation, have such an uncertain future and are so hoping for news that they will have their home, their future and the certainty that they so badly need. As I pointed out, there are a number of developments throughout the city that are going to unlock that. It can be frustrating in terms of the timeline, trying to ensure that these units come as quickly as possible but I can absolutely assure people that money is not an issue anymore, the will is not an issue. We have Housing for All, a document that goes right across the heart of government, across every single area to unlock all those units and get to that key figure of 33,000 units a year and beyond right out to 2030. That will provide the solution and a pathway. We will have to change things as we go along. I have no doubt about that. That is why I value the contribution from the Members of the Seanad, as I do in the Dáil, in terms of getting advice and trying to improve the way we work and deliver units.

We all must work together when we are trying to solve the issue regarding housing, every single one of us. One thing I am very clear on is that nobody has a patent on compassion. We all come into this House to do our very best for the people we represent. When I go next Monday and meet the people in my clinic, some of whom are very vulnerable, sometimes it can be very frustrating on my part when I cannot give the certainty I would love to give. What I always say is that in my own town, and I say it to the people who are here, there are three sites with more than 100 units being constructed as I talk to people in my clinic. I know that will provide hope. Mullingar is not of the same scale as Dublin but still I can see hope for people and see that these units are coming down the tracks.

I want to finish up the debate on this point. I will do all I can with the mandate I have to try my very best in the Department to work for people who so badly need their future certainty of the chance of getting the keys to their own home for their families. I will continue to do that to the best of my ability. It will be up to the electorate to judge me on that afterwards.