Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I put my neck on the line in 2019 and 2020 to support social housing, so I will not take any rubbish from anyone regarding ideological issues.I fully support people. I have said on numerous occasions that all communities should have an element of social housing for people. There are thousands of people across this country who will never be able to afford their own home. I do not believe in long-term renting. It would be okay if there was secure long-term renting but I have come across people in their 60s, coming into retirement and coming up to pension age who have not got security of tenure in this stage of their lives and are looking to get onto the social housing lists. Council housing or social housing is absolutely imperative. We could have all of the debates in relation to numbers, sizes and whether it should be mixed or whatever else but social housing is an important part of the fabric of this country. I do not buy this ideological stuff. There are people in low-paid jobs, whether they be in retail or hospitality, who, if they continue on lower-paid jobs throughout their lives, will never be able to afford a house. It is important that social housing is provided. I will defend the right to and the need for social housing at any stage, to anybody.

If the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, was to ask every Senator and every Deputy to provide a silver bullet or some initiative, one that many small builders have said to me on many occasions is equity. It is about the finance to build the housing estates initially. Prior to this, builders had worked on the basis that if they built a housing estate, they would get the profits from that and then reinvest into the next estate. Many builders went bust and they may now be unable to secure the level of finance to build that first estate, to get the profits to reinvest in the next estate. I am talking about the smaller builders who might build ten, 15 or 20 houses in an estate in a small town or village in rural Ireland. Perhaps this is something that could be considered.