I move:
"That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
Sé cuspóir an Bhille ná deontais le haghaaidh furmhór tithe príobháid-eacha a mhéadú, deontais le haghaidh tithe áirithe a chur ar cheal agus mionathraithe a dhéanamh sa dlí a bhaineann le tithíocht.
Tá súil agam go ngríosfaidh na hathraithe seo tógáilithe chun tithe níos saoire agus de chaighdeán reásúnta a chur ar fáil. Faoin mBille seo, freisin, beidh cumhacht ag údaráis áitiúla na deontais bhreise le hahghaidh atógála agus deisiú riachtanach a íoch ina ghálaí agus sé mo thuairim go dtiocfaidh forbairt ar choinneál agus feabhsú tí dá bhárr sin.
This Bill will give legislative effect to some of the proposals in the White Paper, Housing in the Seventies, published in June, 1969. The explanatory memorandum circulated with the Bill outlines its scope in some detail. I will, therefore, touch only briefly on its main provisions here.
In 1969-70, a greater number of private houses were built than ever before in the history of the State. Total capital expenditure from all sources in providing them came to an estimated £40 million. Yet, with all this effort— which is only part of a sequence which has seen close on 98.000 dwellings in all completed in the last decade—there is not, I should imagine, a Deputy in the House who would claim that there are enough houses in the country.
Paradoxically, the reasons for the continued high level of demand for housing are associated with the rising prosperity of recent years. More people are living in the country, instead of emigrating; a higher proportion of these are married persons requiring separate dwellings. In addition, with prosperity, people are no longer satisfied with the standards of accommodation their parents would have accepted. Overcrowding and housing conditions which might have been accepted in a poorer community become intolerable in a more affluent society. Basically, the changes proposed in the Bill have three main objectives. First, they will provide greater help for the erection of houses of moderate size to meet the demand for dwellings from persons setting up homes. Next, they should ensure that a greater number of houses are built for any given amount of capital. And, finally, they should encourage a greater flexibility of design according to modern tastes and requirements.
As the White Paper indicated, it is also intended in the interests of efficiency and cost reduction to use the grant provisions, if necessary, to encourage the greater use of dimensional co-ordination and of building components based on pre-determined standards. Existing legislation will enable this to be done.
As from 31st August next, the floor areas of houses and flats will be expressed in metric terms in accordance with the Government's undertaking to support the building industry's programme for the change to metric.
Under the Bill, grants will be paid according to the floor area of a house or flat rather than the number of rooms it contains. Grants will not be paid for houses or flats with a floor area exceeding 116 square metres, 1,249 square feet approximately, commenced after 31st August, 1970. Grants of up to £100 more than at present will favour dwellings of a moderate size— from 75 to 100 square metres, 807 to 1,076 square feet.
Dwellings with floor areas exceeding the limit of 1,239 square feet will not qualify for exemption from stamp duty, or for the nine year graduated rate remission under the Housing Act, 1966. A number of non-grant houses will, however, qualify for partial rate remission over four to six years under the Local Government (Temporary Reduction of Valuation) Acts, provided building is completed by 31st March, 1972, and application for planning permission was received by the planning authority on or before 9th December, 1969. The loss of these concessions and of the grant could mean a difference of about £1,000 to the purchaser of a house over the limit of 1,249 square feet.
I also intend to make an order under the Housing Act, 1966, limiting grants to houses costing not more than £6,000. I do not believe that one can keep prices down solely by making an order to that effect. Neither do I believe that the order can ensure that value is given in every case for money or that the policing of the order will be easy. However, I intend the order to apply in the special circumstances now existing while other steps to regulate the flow of capital for housing are being considered. I will review the position in due course.
Section 2 sets out the rate of grant for ordinary houses. A State grant of £325 will be paid for a house of 75 to 100 square metres, 807 to 1,076 square feet approximately, commenced after 31st August, 1970. A person buying a house of this size and qualifying for a supplementary grant could obtain a further grant of up to £325 from the local authority making a total in grants of up to £650. There will be transitional provisions for houses commenced on or after the 1st October, 1969, and not later than 31st August, 1970.
It is difficult to compare these grants with what the person would have got under the present system because of the different methods of determining eligibility. In broad terms, however, the change would mean an increase of up to £100 in State and supplementary grants.
For a person buying the largest type of house for which grants will be payable, the equivalent increase would be up to £50. For a person buying a house of between 45 and 75 square metres, 484 and 807 square feet approximately, the increase could be up to £150.
Within limits, the smaller the house, the greater proportionately will be the direct aid given to the purchaser in the form of grants. Thus, a house of, say, 1,100 square feet could qualify for State and supplementary grants at the rate of about 11s per square foot. For a house of 810 square feet the grants would amount to about 16s per square foot.
Obviously, accommodation in excess of that provided originally will be required by many persons. For this reason, I do not intend to put any obstacle in the way of houses designed specifically for expansion at a later date. I have, in fact, already encouraged the National Building Agency to provide prototypes of a type of expandable house. If expansion is found to be desirable in later years the house could qualify for further grants for reconstruction under the Housing Act, 1966.
Further changes being made by the Bill in relation to grants for private houses include the provision that grants will be paid only for dwellings intended as a normal place of residence. This provision will ensure that State grants will not be paid for dwellings intended, for example, as holiday residences.
Section 3 deals with grants for farmers and certain other persons. Special provision is included in it for payment of grants to farmers providing houses in towns.
Section 4 will enable grants to be paid for the provision of flats in a building of less than six storeys at the same rate as for houses. If the flats are in a building of six or more storeys and a lift is installed the grant will include an extra £50 per flat.
Section 5 authorises State subsidy to be paid at the higher rate for dwellings provided by local authorities, in association with the National Building Agency, for the accommodation of key workers brought into an area for new or expanding industry.
Section 6 will facilitate the compulsory acquisition of land by local authorities by extending the simple procedures under existing legislation for the payment of purchase money or compensation not exceeding £500 and £1,200 to sums not exceeding £2,000 and £5,000.
At present, many smaller urban districts councils cannot afford to operate supplementary grant schemes. The result is that people of modest means building houses in the urban district have often to do so without the benefit of grants from their local authority. If they wish to qualify for a supplementary grant, they must build outside the urban area.
The building of houses outside urban areas, in localities where water, sewerage and other services are not readily available, is often undesirable. Accordingly, section 7 requires county councils who pay supplementary grants to pay them subject to the same conditions in urban districts and boroughs in their areas, other than boroughs or urban districts designated by regulations made by me. Generally, the designated areas will have a population of not less than 10,000 although local authorities reponsible for urban areas with a larger population may seek to have the administration of supplementary grants undertaken by the appropriate county council, if they so wish.
Sections 9 and 12 will provide specifically that a local authority may pay a second or other reconstruction grant where a further State grant has been paid.
Section 10 will enable local authorities to pay supplementary reconstruction or essential repair grants in instalments—as they are already specifically authorised to pay new house supplementary grants. Under section 5 (2) of the Shannon Free Airport Development Company Limited (Amendment) Act, 1963, grants are paid by the Minister for Industry and Commerce for dwellings provided by the Shannon Free Airport Development Company. These grants are paid subject to broadly the same conditions as grants under the Housing Acts. The Shannon houses qualify for rate remission over seven years under the Local Government (Temporary Reduction of Valuation) Acts. I have already announced the phasing out of this form of rate remission. However, because the Shannon houses have to conform with the same grant conditions as houses for which grants are paid under the Housing Acts, section 11 of the Bill provides that the graduated rate remission over nine years provided for in the housing code will apply to them where they were completed after 31st March, 1969. I commend the Bill to the House.