Deputy Harte has received permission to raise on the Adjournment the question of the subject matter of Question No. 6 on today's Order Paper dealing with capital allocations for housing particularly in relation to Donegal.
Adjournment Debate. - Housing Capital Allocations.
I do this in a spate of anger because, for the first time since I became a member of the local authority for County Donegal, moneys are not available for anyone in this financial year to commence the building of new houses. I would prefer had the Minister for the Environment been present for this debate rather than his Deputy, the Minister of State. I do not mean any disrespect to the Minister of State because I have the greatest personal regard for him but this is a matter of extreme importance to Donegal and I would prefer the Minister who has full authority at Cabinet level to be here to listen to my contribution.
The Donegal County Manager has found it necessary to notify all members of the county council of the crisis which now exists in the county as a result of the lack of funds to finance local authority house-building. The county council have listed 188 single houses, advertised and ready to build, but they do not have any money to carry out that work with the result that that scheme must be postponed. The county council have also listed, advertised and have contractors ready to be appointed for the creation of 21 houses in Carndonagh, 40 houses in Falcarragh and 16 houses in Convoy. There is not a penny to start any of those houses and the manager states that these tenders cannot be accepted. The manager went on to list 60 houses in Donegal Town; 37 in Moville; 13 in Carrigart; six in Pettigo; two at Trentagh; 22 in Ballyshannon; eight in Clonmany; eight in St. Johnston; 27 in Lifford and 48 private sites ready to be purchased in Donegal town. That work cannot be pursued. The manager concluded his letter by stating that these schemes could not be advertised for the time being.
Those houses are ready for advertising. We have on the books three categories, those which have been advertised and for which tenders have been received, those advertised but for which tenders have not yet been received and those houses ready for advertising. To complete that programme we need £9,760,000 but the Department of the Environment have given us a meagre £275,000. According to the county manager that amount would build 15 single rural cottages. That is an appalling situation. I should like to recall that less than two years ago Fianna Fáil, in their general election manifesto, declared that they had an action plan for national reconstruction and informed us that they would build sufficient houses. They told us that they would build more houses than the National Coalition. In case people think I am making up figures I should like to give details of the situation in County Donegal, as detailed in a handbook produced by Donegal County Council for 1976-77. According to that handbook in 1969-70 143 houses were built in the county under Fianna Fáil. Other figures are: 1970-71, 99 houses; 1971-72, 167 houses; 1972-73, 183 houses; 1973-74,—under the National Coalition—308 houses; in the nine months of 1974 calculated on figures representing one year, 230 houses; 1975, 351 houses; 1976, 245 houses; 1977, 326 houses. After that Fianna Fáil returned to office and in 1978 200 houses were built and we will not be able to build one house in 1979.
That is an outrageous insult to the people of Donegal, to young mothers living in rat-infested houses, in unhealthy overcrowded conditions and often without water or toilet facilities. In some cases such people are living on the second floor of an old tumbledown shack. Owners would prefer that such tenants would leave the buildings but because they have no place to go they are condemned to live in rat- and insect-infected, unhealthy, leaking, smelly and overcrowded dwellings and we expect those parents to bring up healthy children. It is a downright disgrace. The Government stand indicated on the promises they made in 1977 and the atrocious record they have for building local authority houses. In the period from 1969 to this year the total number of houses built in Donegal under Fianna Fáil was 792 while during the four and a half years the National Coalition were in power 1,461 houses were built. In spite of that members of the Fianna Fáil Party tell us that the National Coalition was not a success. Those figures are not mine; they were given by the Donegal County Manager in the 1978-79 hand-book.
It appears that there is no commitment on the part of the Government to build local authority houses. They do not have any concern for the people living in caravans, in demountable dwellings, in squalor and unhealthy conditions. They do not give a tuppenny damn whether those people end up in hospital, whether mothers break down and end up in mental hospitals or whether there is a breakdown in marriages because husbands cannot find jobs to provide better living conditions. They are the stark realities of this problem. It is not good enough for a Government who have been in office for two years. As a result of the Government's first budget we were in trouble. It was a gamble and the gamble went wrong. The Tánaiste told us that it was a one-off borrowing that might not work but they intended making it work. It has not worked. The gamble has gone wrong and it will not be the Minister for Economic Planning and Development, the Tánaiste, the Taoiseach or the Minister for the Environment who will suffer and will have to live in bad houses; the poor unfortunate people living in Donegal, a county with the highest unemployment rate in the State—18 per cent—will suffer. The amount of money being given to unemployed husbands is inadequate to help them to get a loan to build a house.
Is this the type of society we plan to build? Is this what independence meant? Is this what Padraic Pearse and the other signatories of the Proclamation of 1916 gave their lives for? Did they give their lives for a Government to deny the people of Donegal the right to proper living conditions? I cannot condemn strongly enough the record of the Government in regard to local authority housing. It is appallingly bad. It is no different in other local authority areas but it just so happens that the Donegal County Manager saw the red light flashing so hard that he decided to get this hot potato from his desk and notify the members of the county council.
A discussion took place on this matter at yesterday's meeting of the council and it was remarkable that only two members of the official Fianna Fáil Party were present for it. Apparently, even the members of Donegal County Council are embarrassed. I do not blame them because this would embarrass those in darkest Africa. I am sure there are people in the bush in Africa and Australia and in undeveloped countries who are living in better conditions than some people in Donegal. It is a shame that our native Government have not done anything. I do not know why the Government are treating the people of Donegal like this but I can assure them that I will embarrass them as much as possible and I will lead the people of Donegal in protest marches about it because this cries to Heaven for vengeance. Young mothers plead with me for proper housing. They tell me of having lived in caravans for up to five years, that they cannot have any more family and that their marriages are under stress. They tell me of leaking caravans, mobile homes that are falling apart and of site owners wanting the site back. Such people have told me of being afraid to shift their mobile homes for fear of them falling apart. Young mothers have told me of having to live in a single room where they cook, eat, sleep, wash clothes and attend to their children.
Is there any sense of social justice in such a situation? Have the Government lost all sense of conscience about these matters? When the National Coalition were in office I told the then Minister for Local Government that we did not have enough money in Donegal for house building but at that time we were building twice as many houses there than are being built now. Is it any wonder that there is despair among those parents who are waiting for houses in Donegal, Lifford, St. Johnston and other places? How will the Fianna Fáil candidates explain to the people of Donegal town where there is already a grave housing shortage that the county council do not have the money to build the 60 houses planned? The same applies to Moville, where there is not the money to build the 37 houses that should have been built some years ago, and to such towns as Carrigart, Pettigo, Ballyshannon, Clonmany and others. At a time when the Government are buying jets to fly their Ministers to the cities of Europe there is not money to build houses. In addition, we have been cut back in respect of expenditure for sanitary services and road improvements. Fianna Fáil should become honest for once and tell the people that because they thought they would be defeated badly in the last election they produced their manifesto in order to hold four or five seats and be elected. That was their strategy but it went wrong though Fianna Fáil succeeded in bluffing the people into returning a Government with a greater majority than was ever experienced before in the history of this State.
The last general election has nothing to do with the question before the House which deals with housing.
I beg to differ.
The Deputy may not differ with the Chair. He must speak to the question before the House.
Fianna Fáil told the people that a change of Government would mean increased numbers of new houses but they ratted on that promise. I am not surprised that the Minister of State is shaking his head in disgust. If I were in his shoes in Kerry, I should be ashamed, too.
The Deputy is not correct.
He is hardly shaking his head in defence of the Minister for the Environment. The actions of the Government as a whole are indefensible. I often wonder what the Taoiseach means when he talks about North-South co-operation because in my everyday life I see clear examples of the lack of such co-operation. If, for example, a girl from Lifford marries a man who lives in Strabane she can be assured of having a house to live in if not immediately, at most within a month of her marriage. The housing programme of Strabane District Council which caters for a population of less than a third of the people of Donegal, results in the building of twice as many houses as is the case in Donegal. Conversely, the Strabane girl who marries a man from Lifford has a poor chance of getting a house in Lifford. That is why I use the phrase "a shower of hypocrites" when I hear talk of North-South co-operation.
It upsets me when people from Donegal, who are living happily in houses in Strabane, ask me why we cannot build houses for our people in Donegal. The people do not realise that the necessary moneys must come from central government. There is a housing crisis in County Donegal. During the term of office of the last Government there was a housing need there but I used go to Deputy Tully, who was then Minister, and plead with him to have regard to the problem. As chairman of the county council in 1977 I was involved in a study with members of the housing construction committee and we pointed out that it would not be possible to rehouse all those people on the waiting list—some of the people being rehoused were unemployed—unless the necessary moneys were made available from central government. During that time some of those waiting to be rehoused and who were unemployed saw contractors building single houses when all of that lost energy should have been harvested.
I put a proposal before the Department then but it has not been considered since the change of Government. My regret is that, confident that we would be re-elected, I did not make an issue of that proposal with the then Minister. The sooner the people are told the real situation the better. Unless the Government change their attitude and realise their responsibility, the people on the waiting list in Donegal will never be housed. There is a moral responsibility on the Government to provide homes for people who are not in a position to provide homes for themselves. One out of every four people approaching me at my advice centres has a housing problem. These people plead with me to bring some pressure to bear on the Government. If one tries to tell them the real situation they are not interested in hearing it because it is a story of despair. For how long more must we tolerate a Government who are so close to the building industry that people who build private houses have such a vested interest in Fianna Fáil as to have Government policy designed to their wishes? The result of this is the policy that by not building local authority houses a shortage is created which in turn results in increased prices for houses in the private sector. I am referring to the people whom Deputy Liam Cosgrave called the Tacateers, those people who used pay £100 subscriptions at Fianna Fáil dinners.
The Deputy's time has expired.
I have a minute left. These are the people who pay large subscriptions to Fianna Fáil.
The question of subscriptions to any political party has no relevance to the matter before the House.
I am saying deliberately, and the Chair will not prevent me from saying, that there are people closely associated with Fianna Fáil who influence the Department of the Environment.
The Deputy must withdraw that statement.
What statement?
The Deputy must withdraw the allegation that people close to Fianna Fáil were getting funds from the Department.
On the contrary, I reiterate the allegation. It is true but it is a shame that there is such a situation. However, it is time that the general public became aware of it. It is bordering on corruption.
We will not have that sort of charge made, that there is corruption any place in the House.
I said it was bordering on that.
Deputy Harte should obey the Chair sometime or other. Now Deputy Harte, please.
You have a tough job, but one of your duties is not to defend the Government.
You are not going to get away with that. Would you withdraw that charge, Deputy?
What charge?
It is not my duty to defend the Government. I am not defending the Government.
I said it is not your job to defend the Government.
Deputy Harte, it is a good job your time is up or I would deal with you at this stage. Will the Minister conclude?
It is about time you dealt with the Government. Will you muzzle me?
I will muzzle you, when you are not relevant.
You will not muzzle me.
That is enough. We have had enough of this from you.
I beg your pardon?
You are not relevant. When you are not relevant, you are being muzzled. The Minister, dealing with the matter.
Before I deal with Donegal as raised by Deputy Harte here tonight, I should like to welcome this opportunity to dispel some of the myths which Deputies from the Opposition benches expressed on supplementary questions on Question No. 6 on the Order Paper today when they were talking about the local authority housing programme and the Government's attitude to it. Contrary to what they would have us believe, the programme is in a fine, healthy condition.
The Minister should not talk nonsense.
Work in progress is continuing at a high level. Eight thousand six hundred and seven dwellings were under construction at the latest date for which returns are available, with nearly 6,200 men employed. Eighteen thousand one hundred and sixty-seven houses were comprised in schemes at various stages of planning. A reserve of over 55,010 further sites were available. The Government provided a record £86 million for the local authority housing programme——
Where did they do that?
——and for low-rise mortgages in 1979. This generous provision is sufficient to maintain the level of progress achieved in 1978. While 1978 was a little disappointing in the number of local authority houses completed—6,073 as compared with 6,333 in 1977—this shortfall was more than compensated for by the impressive national housing total ourturn of 25,500 houses completed in 1978. But the short-fall in local authority completions in 1978 was counterbalanced by the high level at which work in progress and employment on the programme continued throughout the year. Work was in progress on an average of 8,636 dwellings throughout 1978 compared with 8,702 in 1977 and 8,195 in 1976. Despite the lower level of completions in 1978, average monthly employment was considerably higher in 1978, at 6,504, than the corresponding figure of 6,295 in 1977 and a mere 5,635 in 1976.
The outlook for local authority housing in 1979 is good. The £82 million available for direct building by the authorities (which is over and above the £4 million provided for under the low-rise mortgage scheme) together with the working overdraft of 10 per cent allows an expenditure within this year of over £90 million.
Even the Minister does not believe that.
This is a fact. This is correct.
It is propaganda from Mount Street.
This amount will keep the levels of work in progress and employment high, while allowing an increased output of completions. One would get the impression, from the reaction and statements of some Deputies opposite, that there is a serious shortage of money for the programme, because all demands of local authorities for money for new work are not met instantly. A major programme costing £90 million in a year needs careful management and close control on expenditure.
The Government have not got a bob.
Practically 100 per cent of the expenditure on the programme is ultimately recouped by the State. It is simply impossible in the circumstances to meet all the demands of all local authorities who naturally look for more than they can use. The considerable resources made available by the Government must be apportioned between authorities on a fair and equitable basis. The bulk of the funds go each year on paying for commitments arising on existing schemes in progress.
This year's allocations for commitments totalled £83.8 million but included record allocations of £30 million to Dublin Corporation and £10.5 million to Dublin County Council.
Would the Minister tell us about Donegal?
I am coming to Donegal. These latter allocations covered the full programme of each authority but are, of course, also subject to review during the year. I am quite satisfied that the allocations made to authorities were more than generous, and already it is apparent that many authorities will make substantial savings on their allocations for commitments. Allocations made so far this year for new work, amounting to over £6 million, only cover work to be started by 31 July 1979 or earlier. I will be reviewing expenditure generally during the summer and will make supplementary allocations for more new work later in the year.
The Minister himself does not believe that nonsense.
While some authorities will not be able to start all the new work they would like immediately, I do not foresee any great delay and at worst, most authorities will be able to start any outstanding work by late autumn. I sympathise with Deputy Harte in his anxiety to get more money for Donegal, but he should not get or give the impression that Donegal is being hard done by. The county council got no less than £2,020,500——
What is the Minister reading from? Would he tell us what he is reading from?
——last year for local authority housing from the local loans funds, one of the highest allocations in the country, outside of the Dublin area. The total expenditure in 1978 was of the order of £2,400,000.
Fianna Fáil propaganda the Minister is reading from.
This compared with £1,581,000 in 1977, £1,881,500 in 1976 and £1,476,230 in 1975. I know that the council want even more money for 1979—what council does not, will you tell me? For 1979 they have already been allocated a total of over £2 million for work in progress and for new work to be started before 31 July 1979. I have no doubt that, following the mid-summer review, they will get a further substantial allocation. In the meantime, they have full authority to spend any savings made on expenditure on existing commitments. They have sought only £383,000 to date from the local loans fund. Their actual expenditure in the first quarter of 1979 was just over £400,000. On this basis it is possible that their savings on existing commitments to date may be quite substantial. Certainly they should have no difficulty——
If this is true, the Minister should sack the county managers.
——in starting work on special individual categories which are required urgently by applicants who are living in bad conditions.
If that is true the Minister should sack the county manager because he has told us differently yesterday.
The total outturn in 1977 was £1,926,169; in 1978 the total outturn was £2,426,160 and this year, to date, to meet existing commitments, the council were allocated a sum of £1,730,000, and on top of that they got £275,000 for new works, making a total of £2,005,000.
The Government have not yet built the houses.
Already to meet their expenditure up to July, they have been allocated £2,005,000 as compared with a total allocation last year of £2,426,000 and the previous year £1,926,000, and again may I say to Deputy Harte that works in progress at 31 December——
(Interruptions.)
The Minister has only two minutes left. If Deputy Harte does not want to listen he knows what to do.
On 31 December 1977 in Donegal it was 287 houses. The programme in progress at 31 March totalled 331 houses.
The Minister is reading out a lot of nonsense.
This is in progress. On the other hand, we must take into account the fact that the total expenditure by the council in the month of March was nearly £131,000 out of a total allocation for the year of £2 million to £2,005,000.
This was only applied for. They did not get it. They applied for £2,500,000 and were given £275,000.
This shows what Donegal has done. We all know that housing is an on-going situation and you must take the commitments coming in, you must take the starts coming in from one year to the next and add to that the money——
There is not a word of truth in that.
(Interruptions.)
Minister, a statement has been made that there is not a word of truth in what the Minister has been saying. Deputy, would you withdraw that statement, please?
Why should I withdraw it?
The Dáil adjourned at 9 p.m. until 11.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 16 May 1979.