: The Fine Gael Party fully support this Bill to make an extra £500 million available to the Local Loans Fund. I am sure it will not prove half as contentious as the issue certain people have been discussing for the past while.
Making available an extra £500 million is an indication of the huge price increases which have taken place since this Government took office. It is a good thing that this money is being made available for these essential services. As the Minister of State said, this money is the principal source of capital available to local authorities for a number of projects and to the regional health boards, vocational education committees and harbour authorities for the provision of water and sewerage facilities. It provides finance for county councils.
In 1974 when a similar Bill was before the House, Deputy Colley on behalf of the then Opposition, was very critical of the £400 million being sought at that time. When does the Minister anticipate it will be necessary for a Minister to come before the House again seeking a further allocation? I have certain ideas about this matter. Rather than having a debate on the Local Loans Fund every few years, in my view it would be better to give Members an annual opportunity of expressing their views on this matter.
Local authorities rely heavily on this fund but since Fianna Fáil took office there has been a lack of emphasis on the public sector. Ministers, Deputies and Senators on the Government side are not alone trying to encourage people to get involved in the private housing sector but they are telling them that it is a proper thing to do. They are getting away from their responsibility as a Government which is to provide houses for people who cannot afford to build their own. The average price of houses has increased by 19.2 per cent since the Government took office—that information was given in answer to a question on 26 February 1978—and when one considers that one will realise that the £500 million referred to in this Bill will not last long. The grant of £1,000 for new houses which was part of the Fianna Fáil election manifesto has been gobbled up many times by inflation since last June.
It should be remembered that local authorities must rely on the Local Loans Fund to cater for the VECs to a certain extent. In that direction there has been a decrease in the amount of money available from £4 million to £3.9 million for 1978. There has also been a reduction of a little less than £1 million in the area of primary education. The Minister for Education when he was interviewed on television by Michael Heeney recently said that his aim was similar to that of the INTO in regard to the provision of new schools and the repairing of others. If there is a decrease in the allocation for primary schools I cannot see how the Minister can contend that his aim is similar to that of the INTO.