Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the Seanad. We are pleased to have the opportunity to talk to him about some of the most pressing issues in our communities and throughout the country.

I join my colleagues in wishing the Minister well with the arduous task ahead of him. He has hit the ground running and I have no doubt he will continue to work 24-7 on this difficult area with ingenuity and with many stakeholders. Housing cannot be siloed within the Department of housing. Working with local authorities, Irish Water and many different agencies, we can and must deliver more houses and sustainable communities.

Houses are being built - I see this day after day because a lot of building is going on in Kildare - but the infrastructure we need is not keeping pace. For example, a second bridge is needed in Newbridge because so many people traverse the town centre using its only bridge. We have housing developments on four sides of Newbridge now. We need to have this second bridge. I understand Kildare County Council recently provided €150,000 to help make a business case for it but it is only one part of the outer orbital route. It is crucial that we have that route and a new secondary school, because the secondary schools are full. Young people have to be bused out of Newbridge to go to school. We are to have a new secondary school on the edge of Kildare town, which will solve the problem over the next few years for the Curragh, Kildare town and the Newbridge area, but Newbridge absolutely needs to have that.

Lands have been consistently dezoned in Kildare, including in Newbridge, Rathangan, Kilcullen and Athy. I hope that, through the Minister's good offices, we will see that change. I cannot for the life of me understand it. Even in my time as a councillor, which is well over ten years ago, I thought it was completely wrong when land was being dezoned. It pushed up the price of housing because the available zoned land achieved premium prices. I hope that will be looked at. Right-sizing is an area that needs more focus. There are many people living in houses that are not suitable for their needs. They may be out of town, in large four- or five-bedroom houses. As their children have fled the nest, they want to be in a situation as they get older to be able to live close to the centre of town, in smaller housing units. This would make those other houses available to growing families, for whom they would be more appropriate. There needs to be more incentives from Government to do this. A gentleman named Pat O'Mahony has written an excellent book on this issue. It details his experience of living in Australia, in particular, where many over the age of 60 - which is very young - decide to downsize and still work. They are right-sizing in communities where there are more services and they are looking at down the line when they are older.

I want to raise the issue of the Land Registry. I have been dealing with a situation where, sadly, somebody passed away. The person had eight properties. The executor of the will wished to be able to help in solving the housing problem. It took two to three years to get those over the line. When Kildare County Council purchased the houses, it took about 18 months to get the changeover in the Land Registry to allow Kildare County Council do the necessary works. We had houses that were becoming derelict and would have been available to help people on the housing list. Sadly, the delays with Tailte Éireann were very regrettable.

Another area we need to put a huge focus on is affordable housing. It was fantastic to see so much money - €486 million - being committed last week to social housing. I want to see the same investment in affordable housing around the country.