Before progress was reported, I was expressing concern about the future of the building industry in the coming year because of the shortage of capital and credit to keep the industry going. I gave as one of the reasons for that concern the fact that applications for SDA loans have practically ceased to come in in the local authorities where the bulk of this work is normally done. I have already indicated that more than 40 per cent of all private house building in the country takes place in County Dublin. It is no harm, therefore, to give a list of the applications to the local authority in 1965 and 1966. In 1965 in April, the number of applications was 18; in May, 21; June, 19; July, 116; August, 135; September, 105; October, 112; November, 114; December, 42; January, 70; February, 56; and March, 30. In 1966, we begin with April, 48; May, 15; June, 6; July, 9; August, 11. This is an indication that the people have just given up and decided it is useless to apply to Dublin County Council for SDA loans because these are not available and because of the large number of applications that are waiting and cannot be met.
I have also indicated that the building societies have closed down until January and I wonder what is to become of the 75,000 people normally employed in the building industry if there is no proper future planning and no indication of what amounts of money will be forthcoming, and when. Even in the present year much harm has been done by the fact that the money has been coming in fits and starts. Even though housing schemes were approved that, in fact, meant nothing because nobody knew when the local authorities would be permitted to start these schemes and when the contractor would be able to move in.
I want to leave that and move on to the Minister's contribution on housing of the aged. I was glad to see that he recommends very strongly that in any group of houses being built, certain provision should be made for the aged. From the expression of views of Deputies here on various sides of the House, I think that this is what everybody in fact wants. As few old people as possible should be taken from their normal home surroundings and put into county homes and so on. I visit many of these institutions for the aged. whereas the old people there could not be looked after better or be more comfortable, I nevertheless get the feeling that they have no interest in the place and are just waiting to die. Even if they were less comfortable but were back in their own areas, where they know the people and have an interest in what is happening around them, I believe that is the ideal solution and a far less costly one. I am totally opposed to the idea of putting people into institutions and settling the problem in that way.
The Minister expressed his disappointment that more progress is not being made in the provision of camping sites for itinerants. Everybody will agree that that performance has been disappointing but the Minister should examine why that has been so. We all appreciate it would be unChristian to say that these people must not be looked after and housed. Most people would agree that they should have reasonable accommodation. But the fact remains that nobody wants to carry out the suggestions of the Commission on Itinerancy to set up camps of 40 families. Nobody wants 40 families of itinerants in any area. That will be opposed by society everywhere. Until we get away from this large-scale camp, which spells isolation rather than integration for the itinerants, and put in every parish from two to four families maximum, this problem will never be solved.
It is no good saying that we have the evidence of other countries. That may be so, but other countries present a very different set of circumstances and have a different type of itinerant. We have to deal with the problem as we have it and deal with it realistically. Local authorities should be urged to adopt this plan of housing from two to four families in each parish. It is well known that itinerants damage property and everything else wherever they are together in large numbers. They are at their worst in large numbers. But if you had this system of two to four families in each parish, with all the charitable and social welfare agencies providing the services and attention they need until they are rehabilitated, the problem would certainly be reduced and the method of solving it would be acceptable to the settled population.
Another thing which operates against the settlement of the problem, certainly in Dublin, is the fact that so many of the settled population are in such a deplorable housing condition themselves. If you start providing housing accommodation for itinerants and ignore the people there all their lives, who are in a bad way, again there is bound to be serious trouble. Pressure should be brought to bear to solve the problem in a way other than by the establishment of 40-family camps.
I want to refer now to this proposal to increase the rents of local authority tenants. I am totally opposed to it. Over the years these people should have been given an opportunity of purchasing their houses. In the corporation area, this was denied to them and they have been unfairly treated. Even in the county council area, while the local authority were at liberty to set up a house purchase scheme, invariably people were held up because repairs were lagging behind. The vesting rent is related to the current rent of the cottage. If you succeed in putting up the rent now, the purchase rent will go considerably higher. In many cases these houses were built a long time ago at a modest figure. They have been well paid for since.
I know there are instances where a lot of money has been spent on the repairs. The objection is that repairs are becoming more expensive and the money must come from somewhere. It is true repairs are becoming more expensive but I believe there would be less repairs and they would be borne by the tenants, provided they were enabled to purchase their houses. It is ridiculous to allow the situation to arise that no change in rent takes place for a long number of years and then come along with an enormous increase and expect people to raise no objection. We are bound to have resistance to that sort of proposal which has been very foolishly presented.
I want to say a word on unfinished estates. All over the Dublin suburban area, there is this difficulty about unfinished estates. We have about 34 of them in the county alone. There is a motion on the Order Paper in Private Members' Time in the name of Deputy Seán Dunne and myself asking the Minister to do something to enable this problem to be overcome. Section 35 does not deal with the problem in the way we all expected it would. It does not do so for a variety of reasons which I intend to deal with when time is allowed for the motion. This is causing a lot of unrest and dissatisfaction among people who have been in estates from 15 to 20 years and have not yet get the normal services to which they are entitled. It is a problem the Minister is well aware of. For some reason he holds that the planning legislation in existence is adequate. All the legal advice we can get is that it is entirely inadequate for all the estates sanctioned prior to the new Planning Act. However, we will have another opportunity of dealing with that. There are open spaces like wildernesses in most of these estates. Not only do they destroy the appearance of the estates but they invite rat infestation and everything of that kind.
I have for long advocated a speed limit for the whole country. I know there is no complete answer to the question of road accidents, but it is about time we considered a maximum speed limit of 60 m.p.h. I often go down the dual-carriageway driving at between 55 and 60 m.p.h. and mini-cars pass me out as if I were standing. I do not know what would happen any of these people if they got a burst tyre. The most serious accidents occur where the speed is much too fast.
Pollution is something that has come into the picture in recent times because of fish disease and the loss of fish in various rivers. I do not know how this is to be overcome. But if we are to allow industrial development and housing development to take place, it is something that must be closely watched. I believe it is possible to get a treatment works that is 100 per cent satisfactory, provided it is properly looked after during the period it is in existence. Invariably the anxiety is that in private hands it will be neglected and you may get this serious pollution from time to time. It should be understood that where there is any sizeable development and where a treatment works is permitted, it would then become the responsibility of the local authority so as to keep control over this matter. It is extremely important that the fishing should not be upset, being a valuable asset to the country. The public health is also at stake and, indeed, that is not second in importance. There is a good deal of pollution taking place at the present time and about to start, and it is something that should be watched very closely, at the same time being reasonable about it. There is a lot of development being held up unreasonably because we are aware of the dangers of pollution from treatment works and from sewage disposal of one sort or another.
I spoke about the difficulties many people have in relation to financing house purchase and in finding themselves in a position to get into a house. It is a well known fact that this maximum loan of £2,700 with the 1948 grant of £275 added to it is totally inadequate and unrealistic in the light of present-day costs. In the Dublin area you now need a deposit of something like £1,000. I ask the Minister to consider what weekly income must a man with a family have before he is able to meet that sort of commitment. The repayments of principal and interest are extremely heavy. On £2,700, I am told the repayments are £4.4.8 per week, and that is without any other outgoings.
The cost of housing has increased enormously because we have not a large enough area of land serviced and there is enormous competition for the small amount of land available for building development. It is a serious matter that money is now so short for the provision and extension of existing sanitary services, because these are going to increase even more as time goes on, and every year building costs are increasing rather than decreasing.
I have always felt, too, that local government should play a more active and co-operative part in the establishment of industry. A certain amount of money should be provided by local authorities every year, that is, where demand is likely, for the building of factories to be let to industry. Many more industrialists would come here and find this a more attractive proposition to be able to rent industrial accommodation than have to go through all the difficulties and overcome all the problems associated with setting up a factory in a foreign country. Local authorities should be much more active in this regard than they have been. I do not think they have ever become aware of their responsibilities in regard to this type of thing at all.
Generally speaking, there is great need for reform in local government. We have been carrying on under the present system for far too long and nobody has ever taken a serious look at it. One of the things that occur to me regularly is that there is a lot of local talent, quite an untapped force that we should be using to the advantage of the people, in the local residents' associations and in the local councils. These people are intimate with everything that is happening in the area and know what is needed there. Development would be far better and more acceptable to the people, and there would be a more responsible attitude towards property in the areas generally, if these people were made see they were part of it and had something to do with decision making in relation to the environment in which they live and the development taking place there. Residents' associations should be brought more into the picture and should be recognised by the Department of Local Government and by the local authorities.
