Sharon Keogan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I would like a debate with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, wherein he can outline to us the future of housing in this country under this Government, as well as his considered thoughts on what it will be under the next government and future governments based on what we are seeing and emerging trends.

The mortgage tracker scandal involved 81 regulatory breaches leading to the loss of 25 family homes. What good is a fine to those families? We have more than 500 housing bodies in this country, in addition to our local city and council authorities. Why? How did we get to this stage? Surely in the provision of housing a centralised response best allows for the most efficient use of land and resources. Was that not the thinking behind the establishment of the Land Development Agency? Yet we now have charities bidding against councils and councils bidding against foreign investment funds, all pricing out first-time buyers. Part of me wonders if, instead of giving first-time buyers little help in the form of schemes and grants, we should give them a whole-year playing field on the market - one year where no house is sold to anyone except first-time buyers who will live in it.

Is home ownership the future of households in Ireland? All of these housing bodies buy or build to rent. Will lifetime renting become the norm? Will the notion of the family home passed down through generations fade away, replaced by accommodation security in the hands of Government? "Have this house until you die, then it goes back into the pot and is allocated to someone else." What are the implications of a right to housing? How will they be reconciled with private home ownership, or will they be? These are questions that many people in this country would like asked. The Minister for housing should come in here and speak to us on those concerns.